A test case is on the cards with a legal challenge mounted by Kajang municipal councillor Tan Boon Wah against an interrogation procedure of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

On Oct 19, the High Court will hear his suit filed on July 22 which seeks a ruling as to whether the MACC is allowed to question witnesses overnight.

Judicial Commissioner Mohd Ariff Md Yusof said that, since this is a test case, he wants both sides to be better prepared. He directed that all written submissions be filed within two weeks from today.

Tan's lawyer, Karpal Singh (right) contended that the “plain meaning” under Section 30(3) of the MACC Act only allows interrogation to be carried out only during office hours.tan boon hwa sue macc 220709 karpal

“We are saying it (day to day) means office hours, the government’s operating hours of between 8.30am and 5pm and it should not go beyond that,” he said.

"There is no need to interview witness late at night, as they should be fresh when giving testimony.”

Tan named MACC chief commissioner Ahmad Said Hamdan, Selangor deputy commissioner, Mohammad Hassan Zulkifli and the MACC in the legal action. Senior federal counsel Noorin Badaruddin appeared for the defendants.

Police report lodged

In the accompanying affidavit, Tan claimed that, by questioning him after office hours on July 15, the MACC had confined him against his will.

He had earlier lodged a police report claiming that the MACC used underhanded tactics to interrogate him in relation to a probe involving alleged misuse of development funds in Selangor by state exco members.

Bulkini Paharuddin, the officer who had questioned Tan, said in the affidavit-in-reply that the MACC Act allows officers to conduct questioning after office hours.

The procedure gained notoriety after the death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock, who was found dead on July 16 afternoon outside the building in which the Selangor MACC has its office in Shah Alam.

He had been questioned through the night, and Tan was the last person to have seen him alive before his body was discovered. An inquest is underway.

‘Big implications’

Karpal, when met outside the court said the case has big implications on the interrogation tactics employed by the MACC.

“It will have an impact on Teoh’s case and the interrogation of future MACC witnesses. We feel that the MACC should strictly operate during office hours and the interrogation need not be done at night,” he said.

“A decision in this case will have far-reaching consequences to test the MACC’s power of interrogation.”

Tan, he said, is taking the initiative on his own to challenge the MACC’s interrogation procedure outside office hours, especially late at night and early in the morning.

In this respect, his action is different from that of the Selangor government, which issued a circular barring state government staff from being questioned by the MACC after office hours. The circular was sent out after Teoh’s death.

The attorney-general is seeking to set it aside on the basis that the circular is against the law, because it violates the legal rights accorded to the MACC officers in performing their duties.