Related Stories:PETALING JAYA: “Mystery witness” T. Sivanesan, 22, can continue taking the stand in the Teoh Beng Hock inquest after the High Court here dismissed an application by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to expunge his testimony.
Justice Datin Yeoh Wee Siam said in her ruling that there was nothing illegal, incorrect or improper with the ruling made by Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas on Tuesday regarding the relevance of evidence implicating the MACC.
“I have perused all the documents and considered all the submissions. There is nothing illegal, incorrect or improper by the Coroner to allow the witness Sivanesan to testify and I dismiss this application,” she said on Thursday.
Yeoh also rejected a stay of application by deputy public prosecutor Manoj Kurup, who represented the MACC in the application, and ordered all parties to proceed with the inquest.
Earlier, Manoj submitted to the court that the objections were based solely on the grounds that Sivanesan’s testimony would not assist the Coroner in the inquest but would be prejudicial to the MACC.
“The only essence or purpose of this witness was to smear, taint and tarnish the image of the MACC and nothing more. It has no nexus to the cause of death of Teoh,” he said.
Gobind Singh Deo, representing Teoh’s family, submitted that the Coroner should be allowed to conduct the inquest the way he sees fit.
He said the Coroner was dutybound to look into all matters necessary as to how the deceased died and this includes hearsay.
“Why was the MACC allowed to bring witnesses to say that nothing happened, while we aren’t allowed to bring our witness to say something had happened, did happen, and will continue to happen?” he said, adding that the Coroner has the prerogative to believe the witness or otherwise after being presented with the evidence.
On Wednesday, Datuk Abdul Razak Musa, who is holding a watching brief for the MACC, filed the application for a judicial review under Section 323 of the Criminal Procedure Code to stop Sivanesan from testifying in the inquest.
This was after Azmil Muntapha had allowed Sivanesan to take the stand despite strong objections from Abdul Razak.
Azmil said the testimony was relevant as Sivanesan’s alleged torture took place at the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam and the same officers could have been involved in both incidents.
The application also sought to expunge Sivanesan’s testimony together with a police report and a set of photographs of his injuries.
Sivanesan, an assistant manager with Puncak Rezeki Makmur Sdn Bhd, claimed that he was beaten with an iron rod and suffered injuries to his head, kidneys and genital area.
Teoh, who was the political secretary to Selangor executive councilor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was summoned to the MACC office located on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam here on July 15 to be questioned over the alleged irregular disbursement of state funds.
He was found dead at the building’s fifth floor service corridor the following day.
The inquest continues Friday at the Shah Alam Magistrates Court.
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3 comments:
bad news ... appeal to the federal court now : remember nizar vs zambry ?
Teoh's case is one of the tragic outcome of frog cultivation in Malaysia.
This was a reply given in the Malaysian Parliament, in response to a question by DAP MP Loke Siew Fook:
"Sejumlah 10 cabutan khas (special draw) yang telah dibenarkan oleh Kerajaan pada tahun 2008. Jumlah kutipan cukai yang diperolehi daripada cabutan khas tersebut adalah sebanyak RM77,026,171.04. Kerajaan membenarkan cabutan khas diadakan berdasarkan kepada keperluan semasa yang bertujuan untuk membiayai pelbagai program/projek pembangunan yang berbentuk sukan, kebajikan, pendidikan, kesihatan dan kemasyarakatan."
That works out to around RM7,702,600 per draw in the government's kitty.
Fast forward to 2009. Do you all know how many special draws have been allowed till this date?
Da Ma Cai
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27/1/2009
10/2/2009
10/3/2009
7/4//2009
28/4/2009
5/5/2009
26/5/2009
9/6/2009
7/7/2009
14/7/2009
11/8/2009
18/8/2009
8/9/2009
Magnum 4D
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27/1/2009
3/2/2009
31/3/2009
14/4/2009
12/5/2009
2/6/2009
30/6/2009
14/7/2009
28/7/2009
18/8/2009
1/9/2009
Sports Toto
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6/1/2009
20/1/2009
27/1/2009
24/2/2009
3/3/2009
23/6/2009
14/7/2009
21/7/2009
4/8/2009
18/8//2009
Thats a total of 34 special draws todate.
At the conservative estimate of RM7.7 million taxes per draw based on the reply in the parliament, the Federal government, (with a 'premier' partner UMNO, which the PM claimed is an Islamic party) would have collected RM 261.8million 'halal' money.
One wonders how much of 'halal' money went actually for "pelbagai program/projek pembangunan yang berbentuk sukan, kebajikan, pendidikan, kesihatan dan kemasyarakatan"?
Or did any of this amount go to nurturing frogs?
Look at the trend of the draw dates.
See any concentration of dates, before the Perak state government was hijacked?
And is there any concentration of dates, co-inciding with the time where the Selangor state government ex-co members and their assistants were being 'invited' to co-operate with Federal government agencies' investigations? And the 'special' blog on TBH that surfaced around that time?
When all that failed, then the 'religious' angle came into the picture with
a. beer confiscation from 7-Eleven (which ironically is from the same business group that Sports Toto also belongs)
b. self-proclaimed edits about state suthorities being given powers to go after Muslims 'dealing' with alcoholic beverages
c. Cow-Head march
d. Disruption in the dialogue session called by the Selangor State government
Too many co-incidences. Very difficult to ignore.
Malayians need to remember these carefully when they want to cast their votes and select the people that they want as their MPs and ADUNs
PARAMESWARA
ppl, stop gambling laa !
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