SHAH ALAM, Jan 19 — The revision of the open verdict in the Teoh Beng Hock inquest has been fixed to be heard at the High Court here on January 31.
Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo who is representing Teoh’s family had tweeted the news at about 9.30am.
Judge Datuk Mohtaruddin Baki has been appointed to hear the case at 9am, Gobind told The Malaysian Insider in a text message later.
Teoh Lee Lan, sister to the dead political aide, sounded surprised when contacted.
“This is the first time I’m hearing about it,” she told The Malaysian Insider over the phone.
The 30-year-old Malaccan said she was rushing to work and wanted to speak to Gobind before commenting further.
Beng Hock, the political secretary to Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead outside the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office in Plaza Masalam here on July 16, 2009, after being interrogated overnight by its officials investigating the former’s boss.
Then aged 30, he was to have registered his marriage to his pregnant fiancée the same day.
Attorney-General (A-G) Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail had applied to revise the verdict at the High Court here on January 7, two days after the coroner pronounced an open verdict on the case that lasted one-and-a-half years.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had told a news conference the A-G was “dissatisfied” with the inquest verdict earlier the same day, after announcing he would set up a royal commission to probe the MACC’s procedures for human rights violations.
In delivering his verdict, coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas ruled out suicide as the cause of death.
He also ruled out homicide despite noting a pre-fall injury to Beng Hock’s neck, which had been first highlighted by Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand early in the inquest.
Dr Pornthip was the Selangor government’s forensic expert witness in the case.
The director-general of the Bangkok-based Central Institute of Forensic Science had rocked the country with the testimony that the neck injury suggested Beng Hock might have been strangled before falling to death.
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