Beng Hock’s family against return of Abu Kassim to MACC

PETALING JAYA: Talk that Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed could be back as the boss of the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission (MACC) has unsettled the family of Teoh Beng Hock.

In a Facebook posting, his sister Teoh Lee Lan recounted her family’s experience in dealing with MACC officers under Abu Kassim in the aftermath of Beng Hock’s death.

Beng Hock, 30, was found dead on July 16, 2009, on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after giving a statement at the Selangor MACC’s office on the 14th floor of the building.

Abu Kassim was MACC chief commissioner from 2010 till 2016.

According to Lee Lan, Abu Kassim only said he regretted the incident and understood the family’s feelings but he did not instruct the officers involved to resign and put under investigation.

“He claimed he was not aware of the details in the Beng Hock case.

“If he is to lead MACC again, what transformation and fair trial are we talking about?” she asked.

The Teoh Beng Hock Trust for Democracy ( TBH Trust) also said that Abu Kassim should not return to helm MACC.

Its chairman Datuk Seri A. Samad Said pointed out that two deaths occurred at MACC when Abu Kassim was its leader.

He did not punish any MACC officers who were involved in the cases of Teoh and senior Customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamad, Samad claimed.

(Ahmad Sarbaini, 56, was found dead at a badminton court on the first floor of the MACC office in Jalan Cochrane on April 6, 2011.)

Samad said in a statement that the Trust was against the appointment of any former MACC leaders to head the commission.

“The head of such an institution must be led by a non-partisan person of high integrity.