KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has allowed the parents of the late Teoh Beng Hock to obtain a court order to compel the police to complete the investigation into the death of their son almost 15 years ago.
Judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, in his ruling today, also instructed the police to complete the investigation within six months.
The judge said the claim and reliefs sought by the applicants are within the domain of public law, both in pith and substance.
"Thus, judicial review is, therefore, a proper mode of commencement under the circumstances," he said.
"The omission of the respondents in their failure to complete the investigation 'without unnecessary delay' is in breach of Section 120(1) of the Criminal Procedural Code and therefore amenable to judicial review.
"The investigation is not conducted with all convenient speed. The interest of justice dictates that there has to be finality in this case.
"There has to be a closure for everything.
"The applicants, as the parents of the deceased, just like any other citizen of this country, deserve this justice. I hope that they get it today."
Teoh Leong Hwee, 75, and his wife, Teng Shuw Hoi, 70, as the applicants, filed a judicial review on Jan 4, 2022, naming the inspector-general of police, Criminal Investigation Department director, the police and the Malaysian government as the first to fourth respondents.
On June 16, 2022, the couple obtained the court's permission to initiate a judicial review.
The couple is seeking a declaration that the failure of the first, second and third respondents to complete the investigation into the death of their son within a reasonable time had breached Section 20(3) of the Police Act 1967.
Beng Hock was found dead on July 16, 2009, on the fifth floor of the Plaza Masalam building in Shah Alam after testifying at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office on the 14th floor of the same building.
On Jan 5, 2011, the Shah Alam Coroner's Court ruled that Beng Hock's death in 2009 was not due to suicide or murder, and found that there was no third party involved in his death, while on July 21, 2011, the Royal Commission of Inquiry ruled that his death was a suicide.
On Sept 5, 2014, the Court of Appeal reversed the open verdict in Beng Hock's death case and ruled that his death was the result of an unlawful act by one or several unknown persons.