KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has ordered the Royal Malaysia Police to complete its investigation into the death of Teoh Beng Hock, who died 15 years ago, within six months.
Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, who is now a Court of Appeal judge, made the mandamus order after allowing the judicial review application by Teoh's parents.
In his brief grounds of judgment, Justice Wan Ahmad Farid said that he found the police investigation was not conducted with all convenient speed.
He said the omission of the first, second and third respondents in their failure to complete the investigation “without unnecessary delay” was in breach of Section 120(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code and therefore amenable to judicial review.
"The claim and reliefs sought by the applicants are within the domain of public law both in pith and substance.
"Judicial review is, therefore, a proper mode of commencement under the circumstances," he said here on Thursday (Nov 21).
The judge then made the order to compel the first respondent to complete the investigation within the stipulated time.
"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," Justice Wan Ahmad Farid added.
The court did not make any order as to costs.
On Jan 4, 2022, Teoh’s father Teoh Leong Hwee, 76, and mother Teng Shuw Hoi, 71, filed the application to seek a declaration that the failure by the police and three others to complete the investigations into their son’s death within a reasonable period of time violated Section 20 (3) of the Police Act 1967.
They named the Inspector-General of Police, the Criminal Investigation Department director, the Royal Malaysia Police and the Malaysian government as the first to fourth respondents.
On June 16, 2022, the couple obtained the court's leave 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.
Teoh 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 (MACC) office on the 14th floor of the same building.
On Jan 5, 2011, the Shah Alam Coroner's Court ruled that Teoh'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.
