Speaking at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) inquiry here today, eyewitness Vee Yak Ban Jong said he had gone to the Kangar police headquarters in October, 2017, to give his statement.
“The policeman told me he was new to the case and since I was busy, he told me that to make things easy, he would audio record my statement and take my signature,” he said.
Vee Yak said he came back to the Kangar police headquarters the following month with one of Amri’s family lawyers as they were afraid his signature would be misused.
“I met an Inspector Khor who showed me the new statement with my signature and asked me to check if it matched the earlier statement I made. It did.”
Vee Yak, who is a mechanic, claimed he saw three vehicles taking turns parking in front of his shop three days before Amri went missing. His shop is located about 150 metres away from Amri’s house.
He said for three consecutive days before Amri went missing on Nov 24, 2016, a gold-coloured Vios would be parked in front of his shop from 9am to noon. This was followed by a Honda Civic from noon to 7pm and a Toyota Hilux from 7pm to the late hours of the night. He could not remember the exact dates but noted it was within that same week.
He said that although the dark tint on the windows made it hard for him to see who was inside, he knew there were people in the vehicles as the engines were running and at times, the windows would be open as those inside were smoking.
“It was very suspicious and I thought they meant to do me harm so I jotted down the licence plate of the gold Vios, PFC 1623,” he said.
Checks by the Road Transport Department later found that the car was registered to a driver who lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.
Other discrepencies between Vee Yak’s observation and the vehicle found in Kuala Lumpur led authorities to suspect that the gold Vios was using a fake licence plate.
Vee Yak’s first encounter with the police was in December, 2016, when a plainclothes policeman had asked him some questions and took notes on his handphone.
Vee Yak’s claim regarding the blank pieces of paper prompted Suhakam commissioner Mah Weng Kwai, who chairs the panel, to ask police observer ACP R Munusamy to explain the policeman’s action.
“Is this a new standard operating procedure?” he asked.
Munusamy replied that the printed statement which had Vee Yak’s signature was accurate.
Amri, who co-founded Perlis Hope, has been missing since Nov 24, 2016.
The Suhakam inquiry is also investigating the disappearance of Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife, Ruth. The couple were last seen on Nov 30, 2016.
The inquiry had also included the case of Pastor Raymond Koh, who has been missing since February last year after he was abducted by some 10 men in Petaling Jaya.
However, the inquiry could not continue with Koh’s case after a suspect was charged with kidnapping the pastor.
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