The Sun
KUALA LUMPUR (April 12, 2011): Details of torture at the hands then-Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) Selangor officers resurfaced today in the testimony of 24-year old T. Sivanesan at the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) investigating Teoh Beng Hock’s July 16, 2009 death.
Questioned by conducting officer Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, Sivanesan recounted his Sept 4 to Sept 9, 2008 detention at the ACA’s Selangor branch on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, where Teoh was brought to by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on July 15, 2009.
Sivanesan had first revealed details of his 5-day detention in 2009 when he testified at the inquest into Teoh’s death.
Sivanesan said he was approached by ACA officers to assist in the “Ravi Chandran” case at their office, but when he arrived, he was told instead to confess and shown documents to sign, which he refused.
Asked by Awang Armadajaya, Sivanesan named the RCI’s 20th witness, Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus as one of his torturers.
Questioned by conducting officer Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, Sivanesan recounted his Sept 4 to Sept 9, 2008 detention at the ACA’s Selangor branch on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, where Teoh was brought to by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on July 15, 2009.
Sivanesan had first revealed details of his 5-day detention in 2009 when he testified at the inquest into Teoh’s death.
Sivanesan said he was approached by ACA officers to assist in the “Ravi Chandran” case at their office, but when he arrived, he was told instead to confess and shown documents to sign, which he refused.
Asked by Awang Armadajaya, Sivanesan named the RCI’s 20th witness, Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus as one of his torturers.
“An officer named Ashraf hit me with a metal pole. He hit my back and my buttocks many times, hard,” said Sivanesan.
To another question, Sivanesan said he was ordered to strip to his underwear and then hit and kicked by five or six officers including Ashraf and a tall bespectacled officer.
Sivanesan also spoke of a second beating by 10 to 15 officers which also included Ashraf and the tall officer, whom he saw wrapping the L-shaped pole in newspapers.
Sivanesan spoke of further abuse by Ashraf, who sparked his anger when he uttered a racial slur.
“I became aggressive as I could not take it anymore, and he cuffed my feet and tied a yellow ACA towel over my eyes.
“Mohd Ashraf hit me with a cane on my genitals. He handed the wrapped iron rod to the tall officer with glasses and hit me with the cane on my private parts,” he added, recounting his first day at the ACA.
RCI chairman Tan Sri James Foong described this as worse than any torture he’d seen.
Foong had earlier cautionED Sivanesan to tell the truth and not play around, a statement echoed by Commissioner Datuk Abdul Kadir Sulaiman as Sivanesan was smiling on the stand.
Sivanesan said he ultimately confessed on the third day of his detention when he was told his remand would be extended if he didn’t do so.
Replying to a question from Foong, Sivanesan said he was called by the ACA to their Klang office six to eight months after the incident and told that there was no evidence to charge him in court.
He added that he lodged complaints with the police, Suaram, Suhakam and the Public Complaints Bureau, and went on to say that he was able to identify officers at an identity parade.
Among the officers identified at the identity parade conducted this year were Hairul Ilham Hamzah and Ashraf.
In another testimony, MACC senior assistant superintendent Raymond Nion John Timban admitted he was unsure if it was Teoh he saw sleeping at the MACC offices.
He agreed with Bar Council lawyer Cheow Wee that he did not stop to see who was sleeping on the sofa when he passed the office of another officer, Nazri Ibrahim, but could identify that the person was Chinese.
“His skin was fair. I thought it was a Chinese,” said Raymond, who had earlier agreed with Cheow that he would be unable to say if Teoh was sleeping, had fainted or was dead.
Raymond admitted that he had never seen Teoh face-to-face, or spoken to him, testifying that he had previously seen two Chinese people at the MACC office.
He said one appeared to be in his mid-30s while the other, in his 50s.
To another question, Sivanesan said he was ordered to strip to his underwear and then hit and kicked by five or six officers including Ashraf and a tall bespectacled officer.
Sivanesan also spoke of a second beating by 10 to 15 officers which also included Ashraf and the tall officer, whom he saw wrapping the L-shaped pole in newspapers.
Sivanesan spoke of further abuse by Ashraf, who sparked his anger when he uttered a racial slur.
“I became aggressive as I could not take it anymore, and he cuffed my feet and tied a yellow ACA towel over my eyes.
“Mohd Ashraf hit me with a cane on my genitals. He handed the wrapped iron rod to the tall officer with glasses and hit me with the cane on my private parts,” he added, recounting his first day at the ACA.
RCI chairman Tan Sri James Foong described this as worse than any torture he’d seen.
Foong had earlier cautionED Sivanesan to tell the truth and not play around, a statement echoed by Commissioner Datuk Abdul Kadir Sulaiman as Sivanesan was smiling on the stand.
Sivanesan said he ultimately confessed on the third day of his detention when he was told his remand would be extended if he didn’t do so.
Replying to a question from Foong, Sivanesan said he was called by the ACA to their Klang office six to eight months after the incident and told that there was no evidence to charge him in court.
He added that he lodged complaints with the police, Suaram, Suhakam and the Public Complaints Bureau, and went on to say that he was able to identify officers at an identity parade.
Among the officers identified at the identity parade conducted this year were Hairul Ilham Hamzah and Ashraf.
In another testimony, MACC senior assistant superintendent Raymond Nion John Timban admitted he was unsure if it was Teoh he saw sleeping at the MACC offices.
He agreed with Bar Council lawyer Cheow Wee that he did not stop to see who was sleeping on the sofa when he passed the office of another officer, Nazri Ibrahim, but could identify that the person was Chinese.
“His skin was fair. I thought it was a Chinese,” said Raymond, who had earlier agreed with Cheow that he would be unable to say if Teoh was sleeping, had fainted or was dead.
Raymond admitted that he had never seen Teoh face-to-face, or spoken to him, testifying that he had previously seen two Chinese people at the MACC office.
He said one appeared to be in his mid-30s while the other, in his 50s.
No comments:
Post a Comment