By Debra Chong- The Malaysian Insider
SHAH ALAM, April 20 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz will find out next Monday if he will be called to the coroner’s court for his controversial “liar” remark in the ongoing Teoh Beng Hock inquest.
Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abbas said he needed more time to research case laws and will decide on April 26 whether to initiate contempt proceedings against the minister for calling Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, the Thai forensic expert engaged by the Selangor state government, a “liar”.
“The respondent has brazenly defied the doctrine of separation of powers applicable in the country by pre-judging an issue, namely whether the Thai pathologist is a truthful witness,” said lawyer for the Teohs, Karpal Singh, in court today.
“What the respondent has stated has a tendency to interfere with the administration of justice and amounts to serious contempt of court,” he added, noting that Nazri’s unrepentant attitude towards the case, are carried in news reports today.
The DAP chairman told the coroner that Nazri had also shown he was willing to face legal action for his remark citing today’s New Straits Times on page 20: “I’m ready. Anytime. No problem.”
Karpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor MP pointed out that Nazri’s remarks carried weight because he was a member of the Cabinet and the de facto minister of law and that Dr Pornthip could be charged for perjury, which is a serious offence that could land her in jail up to seven years on top of a fine, under Section 193 of the Penal Code.
The DAP lawmaker urged the coroner to do his “duty to ensure the dignity of the court.”
Backing Karpal’s bid to cite Nazri for contempt, lawyer for the PKR-led Selangor state government, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar stressed the gravity of Nazri’s allegations on the inquest.
He suggested that Nazri’s remarks suggested that he may have “special knowledge” on Dr Pornthip’s reported harassment, supposedly at the hands of senior-level federal government officials, which had led to her initial “He said: ‘She is a liar, categorically,” Malik said, citing Nazri.
“What does he mean by that? It seems to suggest he needs to come to court to give evidence,” the lawyer added.
Teoh’s elder brother, Meng Kee, had last week filed papers to cite Nazri for contempt, following Dr Pornthip’s initial pull-out from testifying in the inquest.
The flashy director-general of the Bangkok-based Central Institute for Forensic Science (CIFS) failed to turn up in court today owing to “prior commitments” as stated in an April 8 official letter from the Thai Ministry of Justice — which oversees the CIFS — and undersigned by a “Kittipong Kitarayak” the permanent secretary to the Thai justice minister.
Malik told the coroner today that Dr Pornthip had since “unofficially” indicated she was “more than willing” to return to the witness box, subject to approval from the Thai government, and back her previous conclusion that Teoh’s death was “80 per cent homicide” contrary to the Malaysian forensic experts who ruled a high likelihood of suicide.
But he added that the Thai government has officially yet to respond to a second letter dated April 13 written them by the state but added his client
Lawyer for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Datuk Abdul Razak Musa, however, suggested that the Selangor government appeared to be stalling for time, a charge Malik denied.
Abdul Razak noted that in any other “normal” court, Dr Pornthip would have been slapped with an arrest warrant for failing to turn up on the scheduled date to testify.
The MACC legal affairs chief told the coroner that his British-hired expert witness, Dr Peter Vanezis, had kept in touch and will turn up to testify next Monday, as scheduled, unless the Icelandic ash-cloud continues to ground all flights in and out of Europe.
Malik told reporters he had not spoken personally to Dr Pornthip over her reported complaints but stressed that his client, the Selangor government, was trying their best to bring Dr Pornthip to court.
“My client is also writing to the Minister of Home Affairs to see what other assistance can be given,” he added.
Teoh, a political aide to first-term Selangor executive councilor, Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16 last year nine floors below the MACC’s Selangor headquarters here after being interrogated overnight on claims his boss had misused state funds.
He would have been 31 today.
A group of DAP Youth led by Serdang MP, Teo Nie Ching, a close family friend, had brought a chocolate cake and a basket of flowers in purple hues in his memory, placing them on a table outside the courtroom earlier this morning.
SHAH ALAM, April 20 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz will find out next Monday if he will be called to the coroner’s court for his controversial “liar” remark in the ongoing Teoh Beng Hock inquest.
Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abbas said he needed more time to research case laws and will decide on April 26 whether to initiate contempt proceedings against the minister for calling Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, the Thai forensic expert engaged by the Selangor state government, a “liar”.
“The respondent has brazenly defied the doctrine of separation of powers applicable in the country by pre-judging an issue, namely whether the Thai pathologist is a truthful witness,” said lawyer for the Teohs, Karpal Singh, in court today.
“What the respondent has stated has a tendency to interfere with the administration of justice and amounts to serious contempt of court,” he added, noting that Nazri’s unrepentant attitude towards the case, are carried in news reports today.
The DAP chairman told the coroner that Nazri had also shown he was willing to face legal action for his remark citing today’s New Straits Times on page 20: “I’m ready. Anytime. No problem.”
Karpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor MP pointed out that Nazri’s remarks carried weight because he was a member of the Cabinet and the de facto minister of law and that Dr Pornthip could be charged for perjury, which is a serious offence that could land her in jail up to seven years on top of a fine, under Section 193 of the Penal Code.
The DAP lawmaker urged the coroner to do his “duty to ensure the dignity of the court.”
Backing Karpal’s bid to cite Nazri for contempt, lawyer for the PKR-led Selangor state government, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar stressed the gravity of Nazri’s allegations on the inquest.
He suggested that Nazri’s remarks suggested that he may have “special knowledge” on Dr Pornthip’s reported harassment, supposedly at the hands of senior-level federal government officials, which had led to her initial “He said: ‘She is a liar, categorically,” Malik said, citing Nazri.
“What does he mean by that? It seems to suggest he needs to come to court to give evidence,” the lawyer added.
Teoh’s elder brother, Meng Kee, had last week filed papers to cite Nazri for contempt, following Dr Pornthip’s initial pull-out from testifying in the inquest.
The flashy director-general of the Bangkok-based Central Institute for Forensic Science (CIFS) failed to turn up in court today owing to “prior commitments” as stated in an April 8 official letter from the Thai Ministry of Justice — which oversees the CIFS — and undersigned by a “Kittipong Kitarayak” the permanent secretary to the Thai justice minister.
Malik told the coroner today that Dr Pornthip had since “unofficially” indicated she was “more than willing” to return to the witness box, subject to approval from the Thai government, and back her previous conclusion that Teoh’s death was “80 per cent homicide” contrary to the Malaysian forensic experts who ruled a high likelihood of suicide.
But he added that the Thai government has officially yet to respond to a second letter dated April 13 written them by the state but added his client
Lawyer for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Datuk Abdul Razak Musa, however, suggested that the Selangor government appeared to be stalling for time, a charge Malik denied.
Abdul Razak noted that in any other “normal” court, Dr Pornthip would have been slapped with an arrest warrant for failing to turn up on the scheduled date to testify.
The MACC legal affairs chief told the coroner that his British-hired expert witness, Dr Peter Vanezis, had kept in touch and will turn up to testify next Monday, as scheduled, unless the Icelandic ash-cloud continues to ground all flights in and out of Europe.
Malik told reporters he had not spoken personally to Dr Pornthip over her reported complaints but stressed that his client, the Selangor government, was trying their best to bring Dr Pornthip to court.
“My client is also writing to the Minister of Home Affairs to see what other assistance can be given,” he added.
Teoh, a political aide to first-term Selangor executive councilor, Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16 last year nine floors below the MACC’s Selangor headquarters here after being interrogated overnight on claims his boss had misused state funds.
He would have been 31 today.
A group of DAP Youth led by Serdang MP, Teo Nie Ching, a close family friend, had brought a chocolate cake and a basket of flowers in purple hues in his memory, placing them on a table outside the courtroom earlier this morning.
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