KUALA LUMPUR: Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has described as “negligent and untrue” the claims by Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh that he had failed to order the police to reopen its investigation into the death of Teoh Beng Hock.
Muhyiddin vehemently denied Ramkarpal’s allegations and asked that the lawmaker be more careful when issuing statements, especially concerning members of the government administration.
“At the Home Ministry’s post-Cabinet meeting on June 27 last year, I announced that the Cabinet decided to reopen the case and ordered the Inspector-General of Police to take immediate action.
“Following my instructions, and a letter from the Attorney-General’s Chambers dated July 17, 2018, the police set up a special task force, led by Datuk K. Manoharan to re-examine the case.
"The task force has completed its probe and handed over the investigation papers (IPs) to the A-G’s Chambers (AGC) for further instructions on Oct 18,” Muhyiddin said in a statement today.
Ramkarpal was reported yesterday to have asked why Muhyiddin and the Home Ministry were silent about Teoh’s death although the AGC had instructed the police to reopen investigation into the case since last July.
Commenting further, Muhyiddin said his statement that police were waiting for orders from the A-G, as reported in the media on Oct 28 last year, was in reference to further instructions from the A-G regarding the IPs submitted by the task force.
He said the A-G had given specific instructions to the task force on Dec 17 last year and that the investigation was ongoing.
Teoh was found dead on July 17, 2009, at the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, after giving his statement at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office located on the 14th floor of the same building.
-- BERNAMA