Lee Lan said she was deeply disappointed that the police’s latest probe into her brother’s death had once again been classified as requiring no further action (NFA).
“On Aug 1, 2024, Anwar asked us to trust the ‘new police force’ and the ‘new system’ under his leadership. But what has this system given us? Only more disappointment,” she said during a press conference here today with the family’s lawyer, Ramkarpal Singh.
“Beng Hock’s elderly parents, Teoh Leong Hwee and Teng Shuw Hoi, cannot endure endless delays. It is time to fulfil the pledge of a New Malaysia and ensure that justice prevails,” she added.
Last November, the High Court instructed the police to complete their long-delayed investigation into Beng Hock’s death.
Beng Hock was found dead on July 16, 2009 after falling from the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after being questioned for several hours by officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
An inquest into his death initially returned an open verdict. However, in 2014, the Court of Appeal ruled that Beng Hock’s death was caused by “one or more unknown persons”, including MACC officers.
In June 2018, during Pakatan Harapan’s first term in government, the Cabinet agreed to reopen investigations into Beng Hock’s death.
Anwar also pledged that the case would be resolved within one to two years.
Before the case was reopened in 2018, two special investigation teams were formed – one in 2011 and another in 2015 – but both probes were classified as NFA.
Ramkarpal, meanwhile, called on the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to explain why the latest probe was classified as NFA.
He said Beng Hock’s death was “riddled with suspicion”, especially as the Court of Appeal had said in 2014 that MACC officials were potential suspects.
“Is the AGC now stating that there is absolutely no evidence of such unlawful acts from the investigations conducted for the past 16 years? Were the Court of Appeal’s findings wrong?” he said.
He added that Beng Hock’s family had the right to know why investigations were not carried out for homicide or culpable homicide.
Lee Lan said that since 2018, authorities had repeatedly misapplied Section 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Penal Code to investigate Beng Hock’s death, contrary to the Court of Appeal’s 2014 ruling.
She also said that key MACC officers involved in interrogating Beng Hock had refused to cooperate in the police’s probes, and that no arrests had been made.
Adding that Malaysians had placed their hopes in the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led unity government for institutional reforms and accountability, Lee Lan called on Anwar, who is also the PH chairman, to ensure that justice is served for her brother’s death.
“Were the visions of reform that Beng Hock once dreamed of, and the promises of justice the Teoh family believed in, merely pawns in the game of seizing power?” she said.
“If Malaysia Madani means perpetuating a system of darkness and oppression, what is the point of political change?”