Official: Disclosure of Teoh’s royal inquiry findings is at Ruler’s discretion

The Star 
by LISA GOH

KUALA LUMPUR: It is up to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to make public the report by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock, said commission secretary Datuk Saripuddin Kasim.

“The written submissions will not be released until after the commission has submitted its report to the King.

“It is His Majesty's discretion whether to make the report public,” said Saripuddin during a press conference.

He added that it was a unanimous decision following a meeting between the commissioners and lead counsel from the Bar Council, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and conducting officers yesterday morning.
Saripuddin said the commissioners had about 30,000 pages of documents to go through in preparing their report, including verbatim transcription of the inquiry proceedings, and the submissions from the three parties. 

Also present at the conference were Bar Council lawyer Christopher Leong, MACC counsel Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and conducting officer Amarjeet Singh. None of the commissioners were present.

When asked why the submissions could not be released to the media now, Muhammad Shafee said it was to avoid a trial by the media.

“We want to avoid the media picking perhaps juicy parts and not getting the gist of it,” he said.

On whether the commission's report would be given to the media after submitting it to the King, Saripuddin said it was also the prerogative of the King.

Leong, however, said the Bar Council would apply, at a later date, for the report and submissions to be made public.

The commission sat through 60 days of proceedings that began on Feb 14 and ended on May 10.

The findings of the commission would be submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on June 24.

Among its objectives was to investigate the cause of Teoh's death after the inquest at the Coroner's Court ended with an open verdict.

Teoh, 30, was found dead on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009, after being questioned overnight at the Selangor MACC office on the 14th floor.