Teoh Lee Lan shows a picture of her brother Teoh Beng Hock on her phone after a press conference in Petaling Jaya June 20, 2018. — Picture by Hari Anggara

KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has agreed to reopen investigations into the death of DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the decision was made following a Cabinet meeting earlier today, with the endorsement of the ministers present.

“When I suggested to the Cabinet that investigations should be reopened, it was made clear that we want to bring justice to Teoh Beng Hock’s family.

“We will need to consult the Attorney General and the details on the formal structure will be clearer later,” Lim, who is also finance minister, told the media at the party headquarters here.

Teoh, who was aide to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, fell to his death at the then-Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office in Shah Alam in 2009 after overnight questioning by MACC officers.

Meanwhile, when asked on the status of the five MACC officers mentioned by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Teoh’s case, DAP deputy chairman Gobind Singh Deo said any in depth investigations that involved specific officers should require the personnel involved to be suspended.

“The officer should not be allowed to carry on while investigations proceed, that is my view.

“But we have to let the AG (Attorney General) decide to what extent the investigation will focus on MACC personnel it is for him to make the decision,” he said.

The Teoh RCI deduced that the tactics used by three of the five MACC officers had driven Teoh to commit suicide, but investigations had cleared them.

On the question of the RM600,000 settlement received by Teoh’s family from the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government in 2015, Gobind, who was the former counsel for the family, said it would not affect the reopening of investigations.

He said Teoh’s case had been previously investigated by a special task force formed by the police in 2014 after the RCI, but their findings were said to be insufficient.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers found no criminal element involved in Teoh’s death after examining the special task force’s report.

“We do not have confidence over the report on the findings of the task force.

“There is a lot room for investigation to be reopened for the case to be looked from different angles and for different approaches to be taken. We will leave it to AG to decide where to go from here,” he said.

Gobind said that the Cabinet’s role was to meet with AG Tommy Thomas and to express their decision to reopen police investigations.

“Whether or not he agrees, that is up to him,” he said.

Also present at the press conference were DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang, chairman Tan Kok Wai, organising secretary Anthony Loke, international secretary Teo Nie Ching, and the Teoh’s sister, Lee Lan.

Lee Lan thanked the new government for agreeing to reopen the investigation, as she said it was the first step in discovering the truth.

“I would like to also urge the government to push for institutional reforms to ensure tragedies as such will not reoccur in the future,” she said.