MACC promises reforms suggested by Teoh RCI

PUTRAJAYA, July 24 — The two-and-half-year-old but under-fire Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) set-up a special panel to initiate reforms stemming from the Teoh Beng Hock Royal Commission of Inquiry’s (RCI) findings about its investigative methods.

Teoh died in 2009 while being under MACC care, which the RCI surmised the anti-graft body complicit in forcing the DAP aide to suicide.

It pledged to “study, review and implement” relevant recommendations for improvement made by the RCI through its newly-formed Executive Transformation Committee (ETC) led by Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed.

“The MACC has examined the entire RCI report on Teoh’s death that was released on Thursday, July 21, and seriously and openly accepts the recommendations for improvements as proposed,” MACC’s corporate communications unit said in a press statement today.

It said the ETC that will be tasked with the immediate responsibility of: Improving the agency’s quality and its supervision mechanism; to monitor and carry out structural and MACC management reforms and investigation effectiveness; to enhance operations through human capital development; to develop the capability of forensic accounting investigations; as well as to refine MACC’s efforts in tracing any weakness within the agency in order to take prompt remedial action,”

The statement said today the panel will also seek help from both foreign and local experts, including officials from Pemandu, in evaluating and implementing the proposed improvements.

Today’s announcement comes as MACC faces tremendous pressure to undergo a massive clean-up after the RCI’s report revealed last week that the commission had pressured Teoh into committing suicide in 2009.

Teoh was found dead on July 16, 2009 on the fifth-floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after he was questioned overnight by MACC officers at their then-Selangor headquarters on the 14th floor.

The RCI’s report stipulated that Teoh had committed suicide as a result of “aggressive, relentless, oppressive and unscrupulous interrogation” by MACC officers, particularly the then deputy director for Selangor MACC Hishammuddin Hashim and enforcement officers Arman Alies and Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus.

The MACC announced yesterday the suspension of the three officers named in the RCI report, pending the findings of another committee it had set up to look into the royal panel’s findings on Teoh’s death.
The ETC will comprise four senior management officials from the MACC, four MACC panel and committee members and two legal experts, including one from an existing committee.

Apart from Abu Kassim, its members include deputy chief commissioner of operations Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull, deputy chief commissioner of management and professionalism Datuk Zakaria Jaafar, deputy chief commissioner for prevention Datuk Sutinah Sutan, Anti-Corruption Advisory Board member Tan Si Rashpal Singh, Operations Evaluation panel member Datuk Zamani Abdul Ghani and Consultative and Prevention of Corruption panel member Datuk Seri Azman Ujang.

The two legal experts in the committee are former Court of Appeal Judge and MACC Complaints Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Nor Abdullah and former Federal Court judge Datuk Abdul Kadir Sulaiman.

Abdul Kadir was also on the RCI panel investigating Teoh’s death. - TMI