KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has given police six months to complete its investigation into the death of Teoh Beng Hock, who died over 15 years ago.
Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh made the mandamus order after allowing an application for a judicial review by Teoh’s parents.
In his grounds of judgement yesterday, Justice Wan Ahmad Farid, who is now a Court of Appeal judge, said he found the police investigation not having been conducted with all convenient speed.
He said the 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 before directing the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) 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 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,” the judge added.
The court did not make any order as to costs.On Jan 4, 2022, the deceased’s father Teoh Leong Hwee, 76, and mother Teng Shuw Hoi, 71, filed the application to seek a declaration that the failure by 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 IGP, the Criminal Investigation Department director, the police force and the government as the first to fourth respondents.
On June 16, 2022, the couple obtained the court’s leave to initiate a judicial review.
Teoh, a former journalist-turned-aide to former Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16, 2009 on the fifth floor of the Plaza Masalam building in Shah Alam after giving a statement at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office on the 14th floor of the 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, 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 overturned the open verdict on Teoh’s death and ruled that it resulted from an unlawful act by a person or persons unknown.
