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Contributed by Richard Wee & Yip Xiaoheng

The Bar Council’s team of solicitors at the Royal Commission of Inquiry (“RCI”) investigating Teoh Beng Hock’s death (“RCI-TBH”) will provide regular updates on the proceedings.  For ease of reference, all reports will bear the heading “RCI-TBH”.

27 Apr 2011 – The first witness for Day 45 was Zulkelfy Aziz from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (“MACC”) Klang.  He had been involved in the operation and had been assigned to the team investigating Merit Link, and to bring Tan Boon Wah into MACC for an interview.

When explaining his role between the dates of 15 to 17 July 2009, when Teoh Beng Hock had been found dead, he explained that his role had ended at or about 10:00 pm on 15 July 2009 after briefing Hishamuddin Hashim.  However, he had remained in the premises of MACC Selangor until about 3:00 am on 16 July 2009.

During examination, Zulkelfy Aziz claimed that he had left the 14th floor at 3:15 am and had gone to the general surau of Plaza Masalam on the 13th floor, where he had continued to rest.  He claimed to have left his sarong on the 13th floor in the morning.

When pointed out by Cheow Wee, counsel for Bar Council, that in his statement to the police, Zulkelfy Aziz had admitted to leaving MACC Selangor to go home at 3:15 am, he clarified that this had been a mistake.  However, Zulkelfy Aziz could not explain why he had not corrected his statement to the police although he had realised his mistake about a week after giving it.

Another interesting discovery was the CCTV recordings at Plaza Masalam.  A few weeks ago, the Bar Council team had requested to review all the recordings of the four CCTV cameras at Plaza Masalam for those dates.  A team of about six young lawyers/pupils had volunteered to study those videos with the assistance of MACC officers to identify their colleagues. 

From a review of the videos, the Bar Council team discovered that Zulkelfy Aziz had been seen leaving Plaza Masalam at 6:59 am, which was pointed out to the Commissioners.

Upon further questioning, Zulkelfy Aziz gave contradictory evidence regarding whether he had attended work at MACC Klang on 16 July 2009.  His contradictory version of events led to the Commissioners asking him if he was hiding something.

The second witness for Day 45 was Mohd Yusmizan Mohd Yusof, a MACC officer from Shah Alam.  He was questioned exclusively on the text messages that he had sent to Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus.  Mohd Yusmizan claimed that in his text messages, he had expressed sympathy for the accusation that the police were making against Mohd Ashraf.

Furthermore, he claimed that the word “Epi” was a reference to Effezul Azran Abd Maulop, a MACC officer, and that the sentence in that particular text message had nothing to do with the death of Teoh Beng Hock.

The final witness for Day 45 was Azeem Hafeez Jamaluddin, another MACC officer from Shah Alam.  Under examination by Cheow Wee, he confirmed that a meeting had been held at Putrajaya with all officers involved to discuss the evidence to be given at the RCI.  At the meeting, Hishamuddin Hashim had instructed all officers present to say that Hairul Ilham had been in charge of the operation, and not himself.

The RCI-TBH proceeding was adjourned at 5:45 pm and will recommence at 9:00 am on Tuesday, 3 May 2011.

Counsel appearing for Bar Council at today’s proceedings were Christopher Leong, Sivaneindiren s/o Selvanandam, Cheow Wee and Edmund Bon.

Members of the public who have relevant information in relation to the RCI’s investigation into the death of Teoh Beng Hock are urged to contact Bar Council’s team of solicitors by email at bc.rci.tbh@gmail.com.