The son of a top Royal Customs and Excise Department officer who was shot dead has questioned contradictory statements made by the Customs Union on instructions to transfer his father just before his gruesome death.

Mohd Akhtar Shaharuddin said the Customs Union was on Aug 26 reported by The Star to have confirmed that his father, the deputy director-general of Customs, Shahruddin Ibrahim, received a transfer letter after blowing the whistle on corrupt officers.

However, on Aug 28 the union issued a press statement denying any such thing.

"In his statement (Customs Union president Ibrahim Ahmad) insinuated that I had made up a story that my late father was due to be transferred. This is untrue.

"I was informed by my late father prior to his death. He told me the transfer order was signed by the Customs Department director-general Khazali Ahmad.

"They (the union) confirmed this. So why did they deny it later?" Akhtar said when contacted.

'Father was investigating car smuggling'

In his statement, Ibrahim denied confirming that Shahruddin had received a transfer notice a month before the April 26 fatal shooting, and said Akhtar was "spreading rumours".

"I never met or spoke to (Akhtar) and I don't know where he knew of the transfer. The union sternly objects to statements to linking the union to this case," Ibrahim said in the statement.

The Aug 26 report in The Star quotes Ibrahim as confirming the transfer order, and said that the Customs Union had "asked for (Shahruddin) to remain at the department headquarters".

Akhtar was also previously reported to have said that his father was investigating a car smuggling syndicate in Langkawi.

Meanwhile, Akhtar, who was finally called to give his statement to police last month, said the family is still in the dark over the investigations of the police and the Customs Department's internal probe into the high profile case that shocked the nation.