RCI: S'gor pulls out, foreign experts added as witnesses
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Teoh Beng Hock's death was dealt with a second major blow to its credibility today, after the Selangor government withdrew from the hearing.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Teoh Beng Hock's death was dealt with a second major blow to its credibility today, after the Selangor government withdrew from the hearing.
This follows yesterday's decision of the Teoh family to withdraw from proceedings, citing unhappiness with the RCI’s reluctance to postpone hearing until disposal of the attorney-general’s application for a judicial review of the open verdict by the coroner into the cause of death.
The Selangor government’s counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said he was instructed by his client to withdraw because the same decision by Teoh’s family had brought the value of the RCI hearing into question. 
He said the commission's insistence on proceeding with its hearing despite the Shah Alam High Court due to hear an application to review the inquest findings would lead to a multiplicity of findings.
The hearing today began with panel chief Justice James Foong announcing the inclusion of Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand (left) and British forensic expert Dr Peter Vanezis to the list of witnesses.
Justice Foong told the court in the afternoon that the panel, after earlier today visiting the scene where Teoh was found dead, was of the view that it was necessary to call the two foreign experts.
However, he did not elaborate.
Pornthip and Vanezis were hired by the Selangor government and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to observe the second post-mortem performed on Teoh.
Malik said the AG’s pursuit of a revision of the inquest findings showed that he was inconsistent in his stand and had failed to give due recognition to the value of the RCI proceedings.
The situation would get complicated, he added, should the commission’s findings end up at odds with the objectives of the revision sought by the AG.
'AG must declare his stand'
The Bar Council, in stating its position on the AG’s actions outside the RCI, urged the government’s top legal officer to either withdraw his application for a revision of the inquest findings or at least apply to postpone the High Court proceedings until the commission had completed its work.
Bar Council representative Chris Leong said the AG should also appear before the commission to state his position on the revision pending in the High Court.
He noted that five officers seconded from the AG’s Chambers were involved with the RCI, echoing the Teoh family’s concerns of possible bias as they worked under the AG.
Leong said the AG’s Chambers as an institution should not be involved in the inquiry as a part of the machinery of the commission.
However, Shafee Abdullah (right), acting for the MACC, shot down the call for the AG to withdraw the application for a High Court revision of the inquest findings, saying it was no longer in the AG's hands.
Shafee contended that the application was a “process of invocation of (the) powers of revision”, and that once invoked, it could not be withdrawn by anyone, including the AG.
He also said it was “disturbing” to hear the Bar Council argue that there were too many lawyers from the AG’s Chambers and that their ability to act independently was questionable.
He said there seemed to be “insinuations that they are not independent” and that the system that public prosecutors operate in was “somehow corrupted”.
“Let them exercise their powers,” Shafee said in defending independence and professionalism of the public prosecutors.
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