KUALA LUMPUR: A former Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy director said witnesses were obliged to cooperate in MACC investigations.
Hishamuddin Hassim told the Commission of Inquiry into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock yesterday that witnesses were bound by Section 47 of the MACC Act to give information and they could not avoid it.
He said the MACC referred to the Confidential General Circular No.1/84 issued by the Chief Secretary to the Government to obtain information from witnesses in the government bodies and agencies while for the corporate sector, MACC officers would seek permission from the deputy public prosecutor (DPP) or MACC senior assistant commissioner.
Hishamuddin said although they had the power under the law, MACC officers observed decorum in obtaining information.
“Throughout my service (with Selangor MACC) from 2002 to 2010, I had not faced problems when dealing with government officers. But there were corporate bodies which sought written permission from the DPP.
“We would apply for it and faced no problem in getting the notice,” said Hishamuddin who is now Negeri Sembilan MACC director.
Asked by inquiry panel chairman, Federal Court judge Tan Sri James Foong Cheng Yuen what would happen if a witness refused to cooperate, he said government employees could not disobey under the legal provision and the DPP could issue a notice, but it depended on the situation as corruption cases were not the same as rape or murder cases.
Hishamuddin said the authority to investigate the case involving Teoh was given verbally to him by the DPP and the director of the Legal Division was informed about it.
He, however, did not see the approval letter.
On the probe by Selangor MACC investigating officer Mohd Anuar Ismail, Hishamuddin said he had directed Mohd Anuar to carry out investigation at the offices of the Seri Kembangan and Kg Tunku assemblymen on July 15, 2009.
He said assemblymen were also government officials and were bound by the circular that required them to cooperate and because of that, MACC officers could question the witnesses.
Teoh, 30, the political aide to Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16, 2009 on the 5th floor corridor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam after giving his statement to the Selangor MACC, located on the 14th floor of the same building.
Other members of the inquiry panel are former Federal Court judge Datuk Abdul Kadir Sulaiman, former Appeals Court judge Datuk T S Nathan, Penang Hospital forensic pathologist Datuk Dr Bhupinder Singh and forensic psychiatric consultant Prof Dr Mohamed Hatta Shaharom.
The setting up of the Commission of Inquiry was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Jan 26 this year to investigate, among others, the cause of Teoh’s death after the Coroner’s Court returned an open verdict. — Bernama