SHAH ALAM: Lawyer Karpal Singh today urged the coroner's court to allow the application to cite Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Aziz for contempt for calling Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand a “liar”.
He argued that Nazri should appear in court to answer the charge against him.
Furthermore, he said that a precedent should be set to prevent interference in the court process, especially by Nazri since he is the de facto law minister.
"What is before this court is a very contemptuous matter and the court is expected to act without fear or favour and should be brave enough in allowing the application, besides proving a point that court officials are not affraid of the executive," he said.
Karpal, who is acting for Teoh Meng Kee, added that the Attorney-General, as guardian of public interest, should not interfere in this matter.
Teoh had filed an ex-parte application on April 16 to cite Nazri for contempt based on a report by online news portal Malaysiakini which quoted the minister.
The coroner's court is holding an inquest to determine the cause of death of Teoh's brother, Beng Hock, whom Pornthip claimed could have been a victim of foul play.
Pornthip later claimed that she was pressured against testifying in the inquest, leading Nazri to dispute this as a fraudulent allegation.
Unsupported by the report
Meanwhile, senior federal counsel Amarjeet Singh, who is representing the AG Chambers, argued that Teoh's leave application should be dismissed on the ground that it failed to establish a prima facie case for the court to initiate contempt proceedings.
"The charge framed by the applicant is unsupported where the crucial evidence here is the Malaysiakini report," Amarjeet pointed out in his submission.
"What we have is an affidavit by Teoh, where he cites the article which quoted the minister following a telephone interview. But it was not supported by the said article, which was not produced,” he said.
The lawyer also argued that since Malaysiakini published the report, it is the news portal, and not Nazri, who should be cited for contempt.
Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas fixed May 21 for his decision on whether to grant leave to initiate contempt proceedings against Nazri.
Beng Hock, 30, was found dead on the fifth floor of Palaza Masalam here on July 16 after he was interrogated by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers.
The former DAP political aide was grilled overnight regarding the alleged discrepancies in the disbursement of state funds on the 14th floor of the building where the Selangor MACC office was located.
The coroner last week had set May 20 to hear the expert views of Pornthip, who was hired by the Selangor government, after hearing the testimony of British forensic expert Prof Dr Peter Vanezis, who was engaged by the MACC.
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