MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya said there is no truth in the claim by the Teoh Beng Hock Trust for Democracy, which was set up in memory of the late DAP man, that Hishamuddin Hashim and Anuar Ismail were given promotions.
“What promotion are they talking about? Who told them there’s promotion? There is no promotion. So they better get their facts proper,” she told FMT when contacted.
Earlier, the TBH trust said it was holding Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad responsible for not acting against the two officers.
“MACC is administratively under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister’s Office. Unfortunately, the PMO takes no action to end the culture of impunity which was widespread during the BN era,” the trust’s chairman, Ng Geok Chee, said in a statement.
“We contend that MACC’s lack of accountability is the PM’s lack of the accountability. The prime minister has unavoidable responsibility to uphold rule of law and take action against criminals and human rights violators.”
It is learnt that Hishamuddin, one of the main suspects in Teoh’s death, was appointed to head MACC’s Pahang chapter, while Anuar, who arrested Teoh, was appointed as deputy director of Sarawak MACC.
Ng said the appointments were a mockery of Mahathir’s recent claim that only “the blind, dumb and deaf would think that PH and Barisan Nasional are the same”, adding that no action has been taken against officers implicated in Teoh’s death.
But Latheefa said the duo were not promoted.
“There is no promotion of any of those officers involved, so I don’t know what are they talking about. They better verify their facts before they come out with statements,” she said
She said any investigation into the Teoh episode is not under MACC’s jurisdiction.
“It is beyond MACC, it is for the police. But how can they just jump and say there’s a promotion? Ask them to define what it means to have promotion.”
Ng, in his statement, had also reminded the government about the Court of Appeal’s judgment in 2014, which stated that “one or more unknown persons caused the death of Teoh Beng Hock”.
“We are disappointed that the perpetrators remain beyond the reach of law until today,” he said, adding that there had been no attempt to arrest the perpetrators.
Teoh was an aide to then Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, when he was arrested and interrogated by MACC at its office in Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam.
The next day, his body was found on the fifth floor of the building.
A royal commission of inquiry concluded that Teoh was driven to suicide by MACC’s aggressive interrogation methods.
It also blamed three officers for their aggressive methods which it said had violated procedures.