'Sarbaini inquest a mirror image of Teoh's'

The inquest into the death of Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed which concluded yesterday with the ruling that the customs officer had accidentally fallen to his death, bore a stark resemblance to that of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock last year.

According to PKR vice-president N Surendran (left), the obvious similarity of both Sarbani's and Teoh's inquest was in the manner in which the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), in which custody both men died, had behaved.

Surendran said in a statement, "It is noteworthy that the MACC behaved in a similar fashion during the investigation and inquiries into the death of (Teoh), who also died during MACC investigations on July 16, 2009. In both instances, the MACC participated in open attacks on the reputation of the deceased victims during the various inquiries."

Surendran added that this went against the basic principle of the common law system "that court proceedings must never be used to unnecessarily defame absent parties." and said during both inquests the MACC had produced evidence that both Teoh and Sarbaini were involved in graft "although (neither were) able to answer the charge or defend (themselves)."

Surendran said, "This was disgraceful and unimportant to the inquiry into how he met his death."

Surendran whose stand is consistent with that of Ahmad Sarbaini's widow, Maziah Manap.

She has accused MACC lawyer Shafee Abdullah of defaming her late husband through media statements.

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