Teoh Beng Hock's parents file legal action over incomplete probe into son's death

KUALA LUMPUR - The parents of the late Teoh Beng Hock have filed a legal action over the Royal Malaysian Police’s (PDRM) alleged failure to complete the investigation into their son’s death almost 13 years ago.

Teoh Leong Hwee, 74, and his wife, Teng Shuw Hoi, 69, filed a leave application for a judicial review at the High court, here, on Jan 4 through Messrs Karpal Singh & Co by naming the Inspector-General of Police, the Criminal Investigation Department director, PDRM and the Malaysian government as the first to fourth respondents.

The court has fixed June 16 to hear the application before Judge Datuk Noorin Badaruddin.

In the application, Beng Hock’s parents are seeking a declaration that the failure of the first, second and third respondents to complete the investigation into the death of their son within a reasonable time period had violated Section 20 (3) of the Police Act 1967.

They also seek a declaration that the police had committed negligence and attempted to deny the applicants’ constitutional rights as stated under Article 8 of the Federal Constitution, in addition to applying for a mandamus order for the first respondent (Inspector General of Police) to complete the investigation into Beng Hock’s death within a month’s time from the date the verdict is delivered.

The application was filed on the grounds that although three special task forces were set up to investigate the cause of their son’s death, the investigation was found to be incomplete, based on a letter from the second respondent dated Sept 21, 2021, which stated that the Attorney-General’s Chambers had returned the investigation papers to the Inspector-General of Police on Sept 3, 2021.

According to the applicants, the investigation papers had been repeatedly returned to the first, second and third respondents by the Attorney-General’s Chambers for further investigation.

Beng Hock was found sprawled on the fifth floor landing of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on the morning of July 16, 2009, after giving a statement at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office located on the 14th floor of the building.

He was the political secretary to the then Selangor State Executive Councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, who is also Seri Kembangan assemblyman.

On Jan 5, 2011, the Shah Alam Coroner’s court ruled that Beng Hock’s death in 2009 was not due to suicide or murder or third party involvement, while the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Beng Hock’s death on July 21, 2011, established that he had committed suicide.

On Sept 5, 2014, the court of Appeal overturned the open verdict on the death of Beng Hock and ruled that the death resulted from an unlawful act by a person or persons unknown. - BERNAMA