CCTV shows Teoh going in

Teoh was in Plaza Masalam

SHAH ALAM: Video footage from the closed- circuit television at Plaza Masalam showed Teoh Beng Hock entering the building through the fourth floor lobby at 6.09pm on July 15.

However, the recording did not show him leaving the building after that or the following morning.

Police officer Insp Mohd Zulaimi Zubir, who is the 11th witness, told the inquest into Teoh’s death yesterday that he had been instructed by his superior to go through the video recordings to find clues to help in the investigation.

Teoh, who was the political secretary to Selangor executive council member Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead at 1.30pm on July 16 at Plaza Masalam’s fifth floor service corridor.

He had gone to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office on the 14th floor of the building on July 15 to give his statement to help investigation into the disbursement of state funds.

Insp Mohd Zulaimi, who is with the Shah Alam district police headquarters, said he obtained the video recordings for between midnight on July 15 and 7am the following morning, and had seized the CCTV’s hard disk on July 17 to be sent to the Bukit Aman forensic department the following day.

The department was able to retrieve 47 images.

Answering to a question by Tan Hock Chuan, who is the counsel appointed by the Government to assist Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas in the inquest, as to why the hard disc was seized, the policeman said:

“To see when Teoh entered (the premises) as well as to see the movement of the MACC officers as well as others that night.”

Insp Mohd Zulaimi added that although the footage showed Teoh from the back, he recognized the deceased from his clothes as well as his physical appearance.

“I also found that CCTV was not installed at the fifth floor corridor (where Teoh’s body had been found). The CCTVs were installed in the lobby, car park and at the entrance into the shopping mall,” Insp Mohd Zulaimi told the inquest, which was also shown the footage.

Insp Mohd Zulaimi said he had also been instructed by investigating officer ASP Ahmad Nazri Zainal on July 17 to seize a logbook belonging to Mohd Anuar Ismail, who was a MACC officer probing the case for which Teoh was a witness, and found that it only contained one entry between July 1 and 15, which was about toll charges incurred on July 8.

Later, to a question from Gobind Singh Deo, who is holding a watching brief for Teoh’s family, Insp Mohd Zulaimi said although he did not know the identities of the MACC officers that came to view the body on July 16, one of them had told him that he (Teoh) was a witness.

He also told Gobind that he had only been instructed to guard the place where Teoh’s body was and did not ask the officers how their witness could have fallen, adding that it was his superior officer who had questioned them.

Gobind: Did it occur to you that this man could have been pushed or thrown out from the 14th floor?

Mohd Zulaimi: In the beginning, yes but the investigating officer explained that he (Teoh) could have either fallen or was pushed out of a window from the 14th floor.

The inquest continues today.