June 6 hearing of legal action linked to Beng Hock’s death

June 6 hearing of legal action linked to Beng Hock’s death


The Kuala Lumpur High Court has set June 6 to hear the merits of a judicial review by the parents of Teoh Beng Hock to compel the police to wrap up the long-standing investigation into his death nearly 14 years ago.

Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly@Arwi today confirmed with Malaysiakini that the court has set the hearing date following case management of the legal action.

Ahmad Hanir is from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, who represented the government and one of the four respondents targeted by the judicial review.

The other three respondents are the inspector-general of police (not named), the police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director (not named), and the police.

Today was set for case management of the legal action, following the court previously on June 16 last year granting leave to the deceased’s parents - father Teoh Leong Hwee and mother Teng Shuw Hoi - to proceed with the judicial review.

Back on Jan 4 last year, Beng Hock’s parents filed legal action over the alleged failure of the police force to complete their investigation into the political aide’s death.

Beng Hock was found dead on July 16, 2009, on the fifth-floor service corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after being questioned overnight at the Selangor MACC headquarters on the 14th floor.

At the time of his death, Beng Hock was a political aide to Selangor executive councillor and DAP Seri Kembangan assemblyperson Ean Yong Hian Wah.

In 2011, a royal commission of inquiry determined that Beng Hock was driven to commit suicide following aggressive questioning by the MACC.

In 2014, the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled his death was caused by the act of “person or persons unknown”, including the MACC officers who questioned him overnight before he was found dead.

Teng’s affidavit

In an affidavit in support of the judicial review bid, Teng contended, among others, that the police have failed to complete the investigation into her son’s death, despite the 2014 Court of Appeal decision.

She claimed that the police failed to wrap up the probe even after the matter has since been raised in both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara as well as public outcry.

She claimed that the police since then had not updated the family with further developments on the investigation into the deceased’s death, despite three separate task forces being formed in 2011, 2014, and 2018.

She contended that the police probe into her son’s death is not a transparent one and can be perceived as an attempt to cover up the truth behind the incident.

Through the judicial review, Beng Hock’s parents seek a mandamus order to compel the IGP to complete the investigation into his death within one month of the judgment of the High Court (if it allows the legal action).

The parents also seek several declarations, among them that the IGP, the CID director, and the police were negligent in violating their duty of care to the parents to complete the probe within a reasonable time.