Letter reveals top MACC man, politician collusion

K Kabilan(Aug 20, 091:49pm )....Bahasa Malaysia Version

The mystery letter which emerged at the Teoh Beng Hock inquest yesterday is believed to contain claims connecting a top ranking MACC officer to the interrogation of the political aide, which could have led to his death.

Believed to be written by a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission insider, the letter alleged how the top officer and an influential politician had worked together to start investigations into alleged corrupt practises by Selangor's Pakatan Rakyat leaders.

And it was on this understanding that Teoh was called up for questioning.

The unsigned letter, which carried the MACC official letterhead and written in Bahasa Malaysia, also stated the top officer's modus of interrogation - which involves pulling the suspects by the belt.

It further alleged that the top official was questioning Teoh on the day the DAP man was found dead. However the letter did not state on how Teoh died or if the officer was directly involved in his death.

Further claims made in the letter include:

The officer did not punch out from work when he left Plaza Masalam where the Selangor MACC is located on that day. However, the letter stated the time of him leaving the office.This is important as it could show that this officer was the last person to have seen Toeh on that day, alleged the letter.

The officer did not provide his DNA samples along with his other colleagues. He only gave a sample privately at a later day.

That he ordered his officers to wipe clean the window from where Teoh had apparently fallen from.
His alleged corrupt practices while investigating previous cases and that he is generally corrupt.
He had helped close an investigation on the politician.

The letter also stated that the top officer had been serving in the state for a long time, well beyond the usual five-year term for high ranking officials.

The letter also claimed that he was living beyond his means by having several houses, a petrol station in Shah Alam and several plots of land, courtesy of the politician's goodwill.

He was also allegedly caught for khalwat with his junior officer at the Shah Alam lake early this year.

When contacted, the politician denied all the claims made in the letter and said he will be lodging a police report as soon as he is back from his overseas trip. The MACC officer could not be contacted.

Lawyers remain tight-lipped

Yesterday, lawyer Gobind Singh Deo submitted the letter to coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas, asking him to adjourn the inquest pending an investigation into the contents of the letter.

Gobind said that he was handed the letter by an individual on Tuesday evening.

Azmil, who agreed to instruct the police to probe the letter, had then urged all lawyers involved in the case not to reveal the details of the letter to anyone. However he had not ordered a gag order on the matter.

Lawyers involved in the matter when contacted by Malaysiakini today remained tight-lipped on the content of the letter.

However, it is learnt that the letter was also sent out to several other people since last week, including some members of parliament.

One MP who spoke to Malaysiakini said that he received the letter last week and confirmed the contents of the letter.

"Some big names were mentioned in the letter and the claims are massive. If they are true, some very big people from Selangor MACC and the political circle will have to pay the price," he said, requesting anonymity.

The MP also said that the letter appeared to be "an inside job from MACC".

He added that the letterhead used was from the MACC's headquarters in Putrajaya.

Teoh (left) was found dead, with his belt snapped, at the fifth floor landing of Plaza Masalam on July 16, a day after he was summoned by the MACC for questioning in regards to their probe into an alleged misappropriation of state allocation funds. He was questioned at the 14th floor.

The inquest is being held to determine how he died. It will continue on Monday pending the investigation into the letter.

The letter has also been posted in the Internet at various sites, including in Malaysia Today.

Translation into English follows (note, My Malay is not very good)

BRIBERY, MISCONDUCT AND CORRUPTION OF A SUPERIOR OFFICER OF MACC SELANGOR

Respectfully, we would like to refer to the subject above.

We would like to inform you that we, officers of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), feel obliged to expose the misconduct and bribery of a senior officer of the MACC, Deputy Director (DD) MACC Selangor PKPj I Hishamuddin bin Hashim, in connection with the case of TEOH BENG HOCK and another case involving the bungalow of DATO' SERI DR MOHAMAD KHIR BIN TOYO in Section 7, Shah Alam, Selangor.

2. For YBhg Tan Sri/Dato/Tuan/Puan's information, DD was directly involved in the investigations on the fraud case of the Selangor State Government's funds for YB Ean's (ADUN Seri Kembangan) allocation. His involvement was not just on official orders, but he has also given instructions to his subordinates to find, with any means possible, any evidence of wrongdoing by the Selangor State Goverment. He acted in this fashion because he has made a conspiracy with Khir Toyo to topple the government of Selangor. These (gelojoh) actions directly resulted in the death of Teoh Beng Hock. There arise a few suspicious questions that we, officers of the MACC Malaysia, ask on how Teoh Beng Hock could have died. We suspect the DD's involvement in the death of Teoh Beng Hock based on the following:

i) DD had ordered all MACC officers involved in the operation that he not be directly involved in the case. In fact, he was the one who gave all the orders in this operation and other operations in MACC Selangor. In fact, he was afraid to be involved directly because this could expose his conspiracy with Khir Toyo.

ii) The chemical investigators have discovered fingerprints and male DNA on the front side of both sides of Teoh Beng Hock's belt. Based on our, the officers of MACC Malaysia, knowledge, the DD has an individual style of investigative techniques which include interrogating a suspect by holding the front of his belt, lifting him a few times while shaking him.

iii) The process of collecting DNA on MACC Selangor officers was performed in 2 sessions. In the first session of collecting DNA, the DD made every effort to evade giving his DNA sample. The DD was said to have given his DNA sample in the second session, but suspicions arise because the DD gave his DNA sample in the privacy of his own office while all other MACC offiers including the MACC Director have given their DNA samples in a meeting room in the presence of many other individuals. Why did the DD give his DNA sample in a secretive fashion? Was the DNA provided really his DNA? We, the officers of the MACC Malaysia, feel puzzled that there was no one else in the presence of the DD when he allegedly gave his DNA sample? We recommend that the DNA Test on the DD must be done again, witnessed by a group of people who can be trusted.

iv) We have been informed that the DD had ordered his subordinates to erase/clean the fingerprints on the window that Teoh was believed to have fallen from. This was proven when the police could not find any signs of fingerprints, new or old, on the window. The question is, why did the DD order that this be done?

v) We suspect, based on information we have obtained, that the DD did not touch his punch-card when he left the office on the 16th of July 2009, at 6:10 am. This is important because it can prove that the DD was the last person to see Teoh. The question is, why did he not touch his punch-card when he is a person who always touches his punch-card. For the record, he is very diligent with his punch-card.

3. For YBhg Tan Sir/Dato/Tuan/Puan's information, the DD in question is very influential in the enforcement of investigation operations around Selangor and the rest of Malaysia. In MACC Selangor, he is the most important person who decides whether a case should be prosecuted even if the power should rest in the hands of the Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP). His decision is prompted by his personal interests and those of his co-conspirators. So, it is no surprise that he led the MACC Selangor Investigative Unit for decades, at least since the Selangor state government was under the helm of the Barisan Nasional government (Khir Toyo) until now. He was promoted ahead of schedule, from Grade 41 to Grade 54, over the course of 16 years without transfer to other positions or locations other than that of the MACC Selangor. Based on the MACC, any officer who has been promoted or who has worked for more than 5 years in a state should be transferred to a different location to avoid the officer being involved in local bribery. One of the reasons he was never transferred is because he was tasked to "take care of" the position of Dato' Seri Dr Khir Toyo in Selangor. As a result, Khir Toyo also "took care of" his position in Selangor as a favour.

4. As a result of his position in MACC Selangor for these many years, he has been involved in various cases of bribery and misuse of power. Some of the incidents of bribery or misuse of power that we have investigated are as follows:

i) Closing the case of Khir Toyo connected to the approval of a road construction project, in Sekinchan running 20.5 km valued at RM 92.5 million to a contractor that was nearly blacklisted, Meram Holdings. According to the JKR's estimates, the road should have cost less than RM 50 million. The subcontractor that did the work on the project was Cabaran Wangsa, owned by Pua Kim An, the landlord of a house that had once been rented by Khir, while another company director, Ahmad Tarmizi Tajjeury is a Khir crony that was also given 100 acres of land at a profit to him of at least RM 20 million.

ii) Owning assets that exceed his emoluments such as:
a. Owning a few rental houses of which one is a two storey terrace house that was purchased at a favourable price from Pemaju Kumpulan Lebar Daun Development Sdn Bhd, as a result of the closing of the case against the Group Executive Chairman, Dato' Noor Azman @ Noor Hizam bin Mohd Nurdin. The case was investigated by the then BPR Selangor for a few years together with various other houses owned by him. To remove public and subordinate suspicions, he lived in the Government Quarters in Kg Atap, Kuala Lumpur.

b. Owning a Petronas petrol station on the left of the Federal Highway KM 8.6 - 8.7, Section 1, Federal Highway, Shah Alam, 40000 Selangor (near the Melati Roundabout, Shah Alam to Klang bound, registered under the name of his brother. The petrol station only just began operating this year (2009), part of which was built above a Chinese cemetery. He managed to get the site to build the petrol station because of his power, which was exercised in the era of Khir Toyo's government in Selangor.

c. Owning several plots of land around Shah Alam, in which one of them is believed to be beside the new SACC Mall registered under the name of a wife of a MACC Selangor driver named Abdullah b Azim, a full time homemaker in her late 30s.

iii) He has been caught in close proximity with a subordinate officer, Investigator rank, named Nor Azlina bt Mustafa besides the Shah Alam Lake early in 2009 by 2 police officers. He showed his identity card (MACC) and informed the police officers that he and the officer were in the middle of an operation and they were released. These "intimacies" between him and the Investigator were repeated and are common knowledge of many including his own wife. The only action taken by the Department was transferring the officer involved to the MACC Headquarters in Putrajaya. This was not effective because Azlina is still always with the DD in the Selangor office.

5. This letter was written to uphold justice and prevent the further abuse of power especially in the MACC and throughout Malaysia. We in the MACC are fed up to see his antics which have the blessings of the powers that be, like the saying "beraja di mata, bersultan di hati". We in the MACC have (hilang punca? Anybody?) to find departments/institutions/NGOs that can champion this issue so the appropriate action can be taken.

6. We, the officers of the MACC, are touched and thankful that YBhg Dato'/tuan/puan could expose this issue to the people and the authorities so that an organisation/NGO can take the appropriate action, or an independent investigation, can be taken and raised to the Cabinet. This is very important because it involves the integrity of a serving officer of a department that upholds the laws involving human integrity. The DD is now making every effort to press his subordinates to find any faults involving ruling PKR in the hopes that the PKR-led government will fall in Selangor and his secret will be safe. For your information, the DD is now very afraid whenever news about Dato' Seri Khir Toyo is released in the press and he would be very afraid if the case would expose his involvement.

7. We hope that any brave individuals or organizations can spread this information so that our actions can be brought to the attention of responsible and trusted authorities and that justice can be done. We are unable to do this ourselves because he has a "cable" with the powers that be.

8. Cooperation from YBhg Tan Sri/Dato'/tuan/puan is much appreciated and we hope that through your action, much more information can be brought to light involving individuals with no integrity. We hope that this will cleanse the MACC and its officers from further involvement in bribery and corruption.

Sekian, terima kasih

"BERKHIDMAT UNTUK SPRM/NEGARA YANG DICINTAI"

Kami yang menurut perintah,

PEGAWAI-PEGAWAI SPRM MALAYSIA