Court grants Teoh’s family leave to seek review of coroner’s open verdict
Posted on February 3, 2012, Friday
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday granted leave to the family of Teoh Beng Hock to apply for a review of the open verdict of the Coroner’s Court in the inquest into the death of the political aide.
The three-man bench headed by Justice Datuk Sulaiman Daud, in a unanimous decision, agreed with counsel Gobind Singh Deo, for the appellant (Teoh’s family), that there are issues of law which have to looked at by the court.
The panel, which also comprised Justices Datuk Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad and Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim, also allowed two prayers sought by the family in the application.
The first is to allow the appellant to appeal against the Shah Alam High Court decision on Dec 1 last year which had rejected the review application on the finding of the open verdict of the Coroner’s Court. The second is to file the notice of appeal within 14 days at the Court of Appeal once the leave is granted.
Justice Sulaiman allowed the application after hearing submissions by Gobind Singh and Deputy Public Prosecutor Abazafree Mohd Abbas, who appeared for the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
Teoh, the political secretary to Selangor State Executive Councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam, Selangor, on July 16, 2009, after giving a statement at the office of the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission located on the 14th floor of the same building. He was 30 then.
On July 21 last year, a royal commission of inquiry headed by Federal Court Judge Tan Sri James Foong Cheng Yuen established Teoh’s death as a suicide.
Earlier, on Jan 5, Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas found Teoh’s death neither a suicide nor a homicide and that no third party was involved in his death. — Bernama
