UPDATED @ 02:20:16 PM 23-07-2010
July 23, 2010
Tan (left) walks beside Teoh’s mother, outside the coroner’s court in Shah Alam, July 23, 2010. — Picture by Choo Choy May
SHAH ALAM, July 23 — Tan Boon Wah said today he only caught a fleeting glimpse of Teoh Beng Hock just hours before the DAP political aide was found dead at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Selangor headquarters here, last year.
The DAP Kajang municipal councillor also denied having a heated argument with Teoh, in his testimony today at a coroner’s inquest into the political aide’s death.
Tan told the court he only saw Teoh for “five seconds” at the pantry, when he was on the way to the bathroom.
“I saw him pacing back and forth in the pantry while looking at the floor,” he said.
“I saw him for four to five seconds.”
Earlier Tan testified that he was confined to the interrogation room from 9pm on July 15 until 10am on July 16.
He said that during the interrogation he was forced to stand straight for four hours.
“When I moved, the interrogation officer would threaten me and say, ‘if you move again, I will hit you! You don’t believe me? He said while pointing his finger near my face,” he said.
He added that he was mocked because of his ethnicity.
“(The officer said) you don’t understand me? Stupid Chinese,” he said.
He said that the interrogators continued to ask about his family and if he loved his wife.
“(The officer said)I sympathise with you. I will bring your children here and make you cry in front of them,” he said.
He said that the interrogators would leave the room every 15 minutes and sometimes leave him standing in the dark while they were outside.
In the early morning of July 16, Tan decided to use the toilet after sleeping on the floor in the interrogation room.
Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo asked what was the time when he went to the toilet.
Tan: It was near dawn around 5 or 6am. On the way to the toilet, I saw that in the windows that it was getting brighter outside.
Tan said that he saw Teoh at the pantry when he was on his way to the toilet.
Gobind: What was Teoh doing?
Tan: I saw him and I said ‘Beng Hock, you are still here?’ But he did not respond.
Gobind: Did you have any discussions with him?
Tan: No, I didn’t. I just went straight to the toilet. I wanted to talk to him afterwards but he was no longer there.
MACC lawyer Abdul Razak Musa asked if Tan had volunteered to go to MACC so that his wife would not be interrogated.
“No,” Tan replied.
Abdul Razak: Did the MACC officers say that they wanted to record a statement from your wife?
Tan : No
Abdul Razak: Were you angry with the deceased ( Teoh) because it was him that led you to be summoned?
Tan: No
Abdul Razak: Were you angry because the deceased over claimed (on the flags)?
Tan: No
Abdul Razak: Please don’t just say no because I have all the documents.
Gobind stood up to object and said that Abdul Razak was threatening the witness.
Abdul Razak then proceeded and said Tan’s statement was fabricated to tarnish MACC’s image.
Abdul Razak: Is it not true that your entire testimony was fabricated to tarnish the good name of MACC?
Tan: No
Abdul Razak: Is it not true that when you met with the deceased, you said, ‘This is all your fault.’
Tan: No and that is a fabrication.
Teoh, the political secretary to Selangor state councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16, last year on a fifth-floor overhang at Plaza Masalam, nine storeys below the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) then state headquarters.
He had been questioned overnight by anti-graft officers investigating a state fund abuse claim against his boss.
The MACC wants four witnesses to testify in relation to their probe into Teoh’s alleged involvement in state fund abuse.
Coroner Azmil Munthapa Abas instead directed the IO to record the statements from the four unnamed businessmen before making a decision.
However it was learned today that one of the four had already passed way.
Azmil decided that court does not have the expertise to evaluate the statements and ordered MACC to have a psychologist to make an analysis on the witnesses to determine Teoh’s state of mind.
The magistrate will then decide if the statements are admissible from the analysis report.
The inquest has been adjourned to August 9.
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