The Sun
by Pauline Wong and Tim Leonard
by Pauline Wong and Tim Leonard
PETALING JAYA (April 6, 2011): The Bar Council has called for an immediate inquest into the death of Customs assistant director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, and for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to be conducted swiftly into the operations and investigation techniques of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
"Chapter 32 of the Criminal Procedure Code requires all custodial deaths to be investigated by way of inquest," said council president Lim Chee Wee in a statement today.
"Public confidence can only be restored when there is a high-level, independent and far-reaching inquiry into the circumstances of Sarbani's death."
Lim took a swipe at the MACC by recalling the death of former DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock, who was found dead on the 5th floor of the Selangor MACC office in Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam in July 2009.
"It appears that despite the Teoh Beng Hock incident, MACC procedures involving welfare of witnesses has not changed," he said.
"Chapter 32 of the Criminal Procedure Code requires all custodial deaths to be investigated by way of inquest," said council president Lim Chee Wee in a statement today.
"Public confidence can only be restored when there is a high-level, independent and far-reaching inquiry into the circumstances of Sarbani's death."
Lim took a swipe at the MACC by recalling the death of former DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock, who was found dead on the 5th floor of the Selangor MACC office in Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam in July 2009.
"It appears that despite the Teoh Beng Hock incident, MACC procedures involving welfare of witnesses has not changed," he said.
Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, meanwhile, expressed regret and shock over Ahmad Sarbani's death.
"It is surprising that a tragedy like this has occurred. It looks like MACC did not learn anything from Teoh's case and this shows they are not alert about the safety of their witnesses and detentions," he said in a statement.
"We will appeal to the Federal Court to revoke the High Court order which cancelled the state government circular that stated state government officials are to be interviewed by MACC only during office hours and should be accompanied by a lawyer," he said.
He said that this was necessary to ensure safety of state government officials.
DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng released a statement saying: "The ability of MACC to perform its duties effectively and objectively, and without harm done to its witnesses, needs to be reevaluated, and its relevance reconsidered."
He said an anti-corruption body with no credibility would not be effective in fighting corruption, and proposed an Independent Investigative Body under Transparency International to reevaluate the MACC.
"The question now is how far is the government willing to go to find the person responsible and take action. The people will not believe it is a suicide, and this tragedy will create deep doubts and destroy the trust people have in the investigation procedures of the MACC," he said.
Meanwhile, MACC chief Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed in a statement released in the evening said the MACC will conduct a thorough internal investigation in the matter.
"We will leave it to the police to investigate the cause of death and will give our full co-operation to the investigation," he said, adding that he hoped the incident will not be exploited or manipulated by anyone for personal gain.
Abu Kassim also conveyed his sympathies and that of the MACC to Ahmad Sarbani's wife and family.
In PORT KLANG, more than 80 forwarding agents gathered at the Customs Department and hurled abuse at MACC following the death of Ahmad Sarbani.
The agents had earlier gone to the Customs office for a meeting to discuss the new import/export form system and to fill up forms when news of Ahmad Sarbani’s death broke out.
This prompted some of them to hang up banners labelling the MACC “murderers” and shout abuse at the commission.
More agents started arriving at around 2pm and the situation became tense. They shouted out that Ahmad Sarbani was a clean officer and that he was murdered.
The Customs office was a scene of chaos for the most part of the day. Some forwarders were also angry with the Customs Department as they had incurred charges as a result of having been unable to clear their forms.
They were also unhappy with the new system that does not allow forwarders their choice of Customs officer to clear forms for the shipment of goods. The situation was however quickly brought under control by police.
Later, many Customs officers were seen heading out from their workplace. Many were shocked and angered at the death of a colleague.
“Ahmad was one the cleanest officers around. He lived a modest life and we can’t believe that he committed suicide at the MACC office,” said an officer who wanted to be identified only as Wan.
Another who declined to be named said Ahmad Sarbani was an exemplary officer in the export/import division and was well-respected by subordinates as well as forwarders.
"It is surprising that a tragedy like this has occurred. It looks like MACC did not learn anything from Teoh's case and this shows they are not alert about the safety of their witnesses and detentions," he said in a statement.
"We will appeal to the Federal Court to revoke the High Court order which cancelled the state government circular that stated state government officials are to be interviewed by MACC only during office hours and should be accompanied by a lawyer," he said.
He said that this was necessary to ensure safety of state government officials.
DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng released a statement saying: "The ability of MACC to perform its duties effectively and objectively, and without harm done to its witnesses, needs to be reevaluated, and its relevance reconsidered."
He said an anti-corruption body with no credibility would not be effective in fighting corruption, and proposed an Independent Investigative Body under Transparency International to reevaluate the MACC.
"The question now is how far is the government willing to go to find the person responsible and take action. The people will not believe it is a suicide, and this tragedy will create deep doubts and destroy the trust people have in the investigation procedures of the MACC," he said.
Meanwhile, MACC chief Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed in a statement released in the evening said the MACC will conduct a thorough internal investigation in the matter.
"We will leave it to the police to investigate the cause of death and will give our full co-operation to the investigation," he said, adding that he hoped the incident will not be exploited or manipulated by anyone for personal gain.
Abu Kassim also conveyed his sympathies and that of the MACC to Ahmad Sarbani's wife and family.
In PORT KLANG, more than 80 forwarding agents gathered at the Customs Department and hurled abuse at MACC following the death of Ahmad Sarbani.
The agents had earlier gone to the Customs office for a meeting to discuss the new import/export form system and to fill up forms when news of Ahmad Sarbani’s death broke out.
This prompted some of them to hang up banners labelling the MACC “murderers” and shout abuse at the commission.
More agents started arriving at around 2pm and the situation became tense. They shouted out that Ahmad Sarbani was a clean officer and that he was murdered.
The Customs office was a scene of chaos for the most part of the day. Some forwarders were also angry with the Customs Department as they had incurred charges as a result of having been unable to clear their forms.
They were also unhappy with the new system that does not allow forwarders their choice of Customs officer to clear forms for the shipment of goods. The situation was however quickly brought under control by police.
Later, many Customs officers were seen heading out from their workplace. Many were shocked and angered at the death of a colleague.
“Ahmad was one the cleanest officers around. He lived a modest life and we can’t believe that he committed suicide at the MACC office,” said an officer who wanted to be identified only as Wan.
Another who declined to be named said Ahmad Sarbani was an exemplary officer in the export/import division and was well-respected by subordinates as well as forwarders.
No comments:
Post a Comment