Teoh’s death inquest verdict today

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KUALA LUMPUR: The much-awaited verdict of the inquest into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock is expected to be delivered at the Shah Alam Magistrate Court today.

Teoh’s family members will join lawyers and reporters and other interested parties on the second floor of the annex building of the court complex to hear coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas give the findings of the inquest at 2.30pm.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission director of the Legal and Prosecution Division Datuk Abdul Razak Musa told Bernama
that there had been no indication from court officials of any postponement.

Teoh, 30, political secretary to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16 2009 on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after he had given a statement at the office of the Selangor branch of the commission on the 14th floor of the same building.

The Attorney-general’s office directed the inquest to be held since Teoh’s death raised questions of whether it was suicide or homicide.

It was widely reported that he died hours after being questioned by the commission on alleged misuse of Selangor government allocations.

The inquest had been scheduled to be completed within a month, but it dragged on until Nov 4 last year.

Thirty-seven witnesses testified, including well-known Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand.

Dr Pornthip, who was invited by the Selangor government, raised controversy when she claimed that Teoh could have been murdered, leading to his body being exhumed for a second post-mortem.

However, when the court was expected to hear her expert view after the second autopsy, Pornthip caused further uproar when she alleged that she had been warned, threatened and warned not to attend the inquest.

Appearing in court again on Aug 18, she said the second post-mortem indicated that Teoh was not assaulted or tortured, but maintained that his death was not a suicide.

British forensics expert Professor Dr Peter Vanezis, engaged by the anti-corruption commission, testified that Teoh was not unconscious when he plunged to his death.

Dr Vanezis said the distribution of injuries indicated that Teoh was fully conscious and orientated at the time.

He also had testified that the second post-mortem, which was supervised by him, revealed that none of the injuries showed that he was killed by other means or thrown out of the window. — Bernama