20 Sept 2010

Teoh inquest: 'Goodbye' message in mystery note

A note said to be deceased DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock's 'final testament', written mainly in Chinese, has been tendered as an exhibit at the inquest into his death.Speaking to reporters during a recess, Teoh's family lawyer Gobind Singh Deo confirmed that the note is the original copy he had seen last month.
The note was found in Teoh's backpack, left in the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office on July 16 last year.


The MACC had interrogated Teoh overnight on July 15, in connection with a probe into alleged misuse of funds by his employer and Selangor exco Ean Yong Hian Wah.His body was found the next afternoon on the fifth floor service corridor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam. The Selangor MACC has its office on Level 14 of the building.The item was not initially listed as evidence by police investigating officer Ahmad Nazri Zainal.

Testifying before the coroner today, he said he did not list many of the personal items in the bag because he found them "of little value". The items listed included Teoh's Mykad, digital camera battery charger and Tesco customer loyalty card.Also found were a VCD, mineral water, computer accessories, note books and some pieces of paper.The note and other previously unlisted items were only recorded on Oct 7, 2009 with several items, including the 'mysterious' note which was then submitted to the Chemistry Department for examination.

These were previously stored in a locked cabinet in Ahmad Nazri's office.Gobind  has requested that the court interpreter who provided the translation for the note be made available to take the stand when the inquest resumes at 2pm."She is now on duty at the High Court. If she agrees with our suggestion, then there will be no need for us to call our own interpreter," he said.

Ahmad Nazri had testified this morning that MACC officer Zurinawati Zulkifli - who alerted him to the presence of the bag - had refused to sign a handover form because she was not assigned to the case for which Teoh had been called for questioning.He said Zurinawati told him that the MACC investigating officer on the case, Mohd Anuar Ismail who was not present at the time, had initially taken the bag into his office.

However, Ahmad Nazri said that, when he saw the bag it was on a sofa outside another officer's office.
The black bag and the main contents were tendered as exhibits today.The police officer also testified that he found that a window on Level 14 was ajar and that the handle was missing and appeared to have been broken off.

"(Teoh's body) was found directly below the window," he said, adding that the forensics team arrived at 4pm.
Returning to the stand after the recess, Ahmad Nazri said the Bukit Aman forensics team ran a ultra-violet test in the room Teoh was interrogated, at the window and the toilet of the 14th floor on July 19, 2009, but found no traces of blood.Ahmad Nazri said he realised the significance of the note after a conversation with a psychiatrist in Hospital Permai, who had assisted with the psychology test for the Teoh family. She told him that those who commit suicide often leave a note.

He said he chanced upon the note while organising all the evidence, when preparing to give testimony.Ahmad Nazri then asked a Chinese police inspector to translate the note before informing his superiors and subsequently sending the note to the Chemistry Department.He said he only realised the significance of the note on Oct 7 and sent it to the Chemistry Department on Oct 9.At 3.45pm, Ahmad Nazri stood down from the witness stand to enable a court interpreter Ting Chin Kin, 23, to testify. 

Translation of note
 
Gobind read out the translated note, which sounded like an apology and suggested that the MACC had found evidence in the writer's computer.

Ean Yong, Dalam keadaan tak menyalin file dalam komputer saya mereka telah ambil komputer. Mereka asyik menyalahkan kamu. Minta maaf. Tidak mengerti tapi pura-pura mengerti, akhirnya menyusahkan kamu.
Saya kata 'mendapat kelulusan YB'. Mereka berdegil menaip menjadi 'mengikut arahan YB'. Saya tak dapat membantu kamu, maaf. Minta maaf. Saya amat penat. Selamat tinggal.

(Ean Yong, Without copying the file in my computer, they have taken the computer. I'm sorry. They are fond of blaming you. Don't understand but pretend to understand, in the end, this has inconvenienced you.
(I said 'obtained the YB's approval' but they insist on typing 'on the YB's instructions'. I can't help you, sorry. I'm sorry. I'm very tired. Goodbye.)
Gobind grilled the interpreter over the translation of Zai Jian, asking her to read out the translation from two Chinese-English dictionaries.

In both, the phrase is translated as 'see you again'.Responding to Gobind, the interpreter said she had translated this to selamat tinggal, using Google Translate.She admitted that the word used to mean berdegil (insist) could also mean berkeras (force).Gobind said this could mean force was used.
Under re-examination by MACC prosecution head Abdul Razak Musa (left), she agreed with him that it could mean berkeras untuk menaip (insist on typing).

Lawyer Tan Hock Chuan, representing the Attorney-General's Chambers, asked Ting if the words used to mean 'Goodbye could also be used to mean 'see you later'.She replied in the affirmative, Talso stating that the writer of the note does not mention that he was physically abused.At 4.30pm, Ahmad Nazri is recalled to the stand to be cross-examined. He testified that the handwriting in the notebook and voucher found in Teoh's bag were used as samples for comparison. 

He said that he cannot confirm that the notebook and vouchers contained samples of Teoh's writing, as he did not verify this with the family. As such, he cannot conclusively say that the note was written by Teoh.
Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas adjourned the inquest to Oct 14.

Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/143050

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