Disciplinary action will be taken against three officers of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) who had pressured DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock to such an extent during questioning in July 2009 that he ‘committed suicide’ .

NONE MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed (right) said today the recommendations would be forwarded to the agency’s complaints committee soon.

“Let us finalise this at the complaints committee first. We will inform them first, then we will (announce),” Abu Kassim told a press conference at the Parliament lobby when pressed for details.

The trio are former Selangor MACC investigations unit head Hishamuddin Hashim, investigation officer Mohd Anuar Ismail and assistant superintendent Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus.

The internal committee is headed by former Court of Appeal judge Mohd Noor Abdullah.

He is assisted by Muhammad Mohd Noor, the former deputy secretary-general of the Prime Minister’s Department; Wan Abdul Wahab Abdulla, the  former Public Complaints Bureau director; and lawyer V Ravindran.

Asked why the MACC has taken this long to act, Abu Kassim said: “It’s is not long. At first we had to look at the criminal part, but the AGC (Attorney-General’s Chambers) cleared them and said that there is no case. Then we looked into the disciplinary issues.”

In April, Abu Kassim had said the commission was still in the process of recording "explanations" from the three officers involved in questioning Teoh on July 15, 2009.

A NONE royal commission of inquiry into the circumstances of Teoh’s death established that he had been put through three strenuous rounds of interrogation, and then endured another round of intense questioning by the trio.

The panel postulated that the intense interrogations had pushed Teoh to the brink and that he had eventually committed suicide.    

‘Probe on Anwar only if ...’

Abu Kassim was also asked whether the MACC would reopen investigations into the claim that Anwar Ibrahim, while he was deputy prime minister, had 20 master accounts and RM3 billion in assets, shares and cash.

NONE He said the agency would investigate if new evidence was brought to its attention.

Abu Kassim had earlier submitted MACC’s annual report for 2011 to the parliamentary special committee on corruption, headed by BN’s Kangar MP Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad.

The report will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat, together with the special committee’s report, at the next sitting of Parliament in September.

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