8 theSun | FRIDAY AUGUST 14 2009

news without borders

‘Teoh could have Words uttered by Karpal

missing in transcript
been dragged’ by S. Tamarai Chelvi
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer Karpal Singh’s

by Tan Yi Liang
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
SHAH ALAM: A police foren-
sic expert says political aide
Teoh Beng Hock, 30, could
have been dragged before
his body was found sprawled
on Plaza Masalam’s 5th floor
lobby.
Chief Insp Mazli Jusoh
(pix, top), from the Se-
langor police head-
quarters’ forensic
branch, told the
inquest into
Teoh’s death
that the drag-
ging was pos-
sible after being
shown photos of
scratches found
on the sole of
Teoh’s right shoe.
When asked by
Selangor state government
counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar
whether it was possible
that Teoh could have been
dragged:
Mazli: No, because normally
if a person is being dragged
from behind, he would resist
with his heels. It would not
affect the sole of the shoe.
Malik: Would it be possible
if he was dragged from the
side?
Mazli: It would.
Mazli then told the court
that the white, chalky scratch
marks which exposed the sole
were not a foreign material
but part of the cloth that held
the sole to the shoe, adding
that he was unable to find a
missing portion of the front
sole of the shoe despite look-
ing for it.
“I searched the 14th
floor near the window
frame, and also on
the fifth floor, and
the areas below
it, including a
flower bed of
red flowers
and a parking
lot below, but I
couldn’t find the
missing piece.”
He said no test
was done on the
chalky white sub-
stance found on the shoe
and that a fingerprint test had
failed to turn up any print on
a window frame on the 14th
floor.
When questioned by Bar
Council’s Richard Wee, Mazli,
who is the inquest’s 13th wit-
ness, said it was possible for
a person to step through the
window, which was 0.6m-
wide and 0.9m in height, and
added that an examination of
the building outside the win-
dow found no sharp protru-
sions which could have torn
Teoh’s pants as he fell.
Wee: Is it possible to
step out of the win-
dow?
Mazli: Yes.
Wee: You said
his pants were
torn. Did you
see anything
that could
have snagged
his pants?
Mazli: No, I saw
nothing. It looked
smooth ...
Asked if further test
was conducted, Mazli said
he had taken swabs from a
stain found on the window,
and from the sofa on which
Teoh had rested, but he had
not done any polylight testing
of the sofa, or the spot on the
fifth floor where Teoh’s body
was found.
Mazli said he had not done
any testing for fingerprints on
Teoh’s clothing, body or belt.
Witness number No. 14,
DSP Shahrul Othman Mansor
(pix, bottom), who is with
Bukit Aman’s Cheras forensic
laboratory, told the inquest he
found a footprint on the floor
below the same window when
he conducted further checks
of the Selangor MACC’s office
three days after the incident.
Shahrul said he found faint
trace of a shoe print measur-
ing nine inches on the
inner ledge of the
window, and that
he ordered a pho-
tograph taken of
the print.
However,
when ques-
tioned further
by Selangor state
government’s
counsel Sreekant
Pillai, Shahrul said
there was a possibility
of contamination, as he had
conducted his examination
three days after the incident.
Shahrul said he did not
dust the window for prints as
the investigating officer ASP
words uttered in a press conference
stating that he “got nothing personal”
were missing from a transcript which
appears on page 6 but the rest of the
words were missing on page 7 of the
transcripts, which has 10 pages.
He asked the court to record the
missing words. Earlier, Jagdeep also
said that there were gaps in the video
recordings and asked for the video to
DAY 7 was used in the court proceedings. be reviewed. He asked Judicial Com-
Teoh Beng Hock inquest: Yesterday, a video recording of a misioner Azman Abdullah to write the
press conference held on Feb 6 in Kar- gaps (in his notes of proceedings).
Who’s who pal’s office was played in court during He said questions could have been
Coroner the testimony of Eliani Mazlan, a reporter posed by reporters but they did not
Azmil Muntapha from RTM in Karpal’s sedition trial. know what were the questions because
Abas While the video tape was being of the gaps.
Government played, lawyer Jagdeep Singh Deo Eliani testified she transferred the
Tan Hock Chuan pointed out to the court that certain recording from the original tape to an-
(counsel appointed
by government) words spoken by Karpal in the video other copy and then she met a senior
DPP Idham Abdul Gh recordings (of the press conference) reporter and discussed about writing
ani
Lawyers for Teoh’s fam were “entirely not in the transcript”. the script.
ily
Gobind Singh Deo The words were: “But I’ll make it She said she wrote the script and
S.N. Nair very clear, I got nothing personal in this sent it to the editor.
Ram Karpal Singh matter. It is a constitutional point and I Karpal Singh is charged with utter-
Lim Lip Eng think one which should be respected by ing seditious words between noon and
Karpal Singh
all including the ruler.” 12.30pm in Messrs Karpal Singh & Co
Lawyers for Selangor
state government However, in the transcript, the at No. 67, Jalan Pudu Lama, Dang Wangi
Malik Imtiaz Sarwa words “but I’ll make it very clear, I got” on Feb 6.
Ashok Kandiah r
Sreekant Pillai
Lawyers holding a watchin
for the Bar Council g brief Parties’ views on local
12 lawyers led by His
Teh Poh Teik who wil yam
turns on a daily bas l take
elections being sought: MB
is
by Eva Yeong feels there are still many weaknesses
newsdesk@thesundaily.com that need to be addressed by every
Ahmad Nazri informed that Fear of councillor. There are still some who
such work had already been unrest SHAH ALAM: Initial research has been did not achieve the targeted level with
done by Selangor forensics. ahead of done on local council elections, the find- the excuse that there are too many
He added that an inspection ings of which would be disseminated to responsibilities. This sometimes creates
of the walls around the win- Afghan the parties under Pakatan Rakyat (PR) dissatisfaction among the people,” he
dow turned up no evidence polls for their views, Mentri Besar Tan Sri said.
of a scuffle or fight that could pg 10 Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said yesterday. He said the state government chose
be linked to Teoh’s death, and “We have to pass the findings to the local councillors based on four
said the only damage he found the various parties of Pakatan Rakyat criteria – capability, capacity, character
at the window was a broken to seek their views and we’ll also recon- and cooperation.
handle and a screw. struct our findings with the effort done Selangor exco member Ronnie Liu,
“I found the window in Penang. It was agreed at Pakatan who was present, said a code of con-
unlocked because the lock- Rakyat that this matter will also be part duct will be drawn up as a guideline for
ing mechanism was broken, of the agenda for discussion,” he said. the local councillors.
what was left was only the Khalid did not want to speculate “It’s more of do’s and don’ts for
base of the lock. There was when asked whether the local council the local councillors so that they will
also marks of a newly-broken elections would be held before the next carry out their duties effectively with-
screw,” said Shahrul. general election. out contravening the state policies. It
The hearing continues He was speaking to reporters after will be a useful and practical guideline,”
today. presenting letters of appointment to lo- he said.
cal councillors for the 2009/2010 term. Khalid also spoke about the short-
Of the total of 290 local councillors, age of funds faced by the local councils,
about 20% are new faces. where a big portion of their revenue
Khalid said that after one year’s goes to keeping the state clean.
experience, PR has pinpointed areas He said several parties have sug-
I found the that need attention and he is optimistic gested to adopt the zero-budgeting
about the performance of the local concept and he encouraged the local
window unlocked councillors. councillors to share their experience
because “However, the state government and knowledge on the matter.
the locking
mechanism was Dining, entertainment take top spot for spending
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian consum- serious impact on the urban middle
broken, what was ers expect dining and entertainment class in these regions compared with
left was only the to be their top spending priority for the
next six months, according to a Master-
previous recessions.
MasterCard said the three top sav-
base of the lock. Card Survey on Consumer Purchasing ing priorities for Malaysians included
Priorities. investment (59%), retirement (52%) and
There was also In a statement here, MasterCard purchasing of property (29%).
marks of a newly- said the results were the same for the
previous survey released in December
It said the survey also indicated a
majority of Malaysians wanted to cut
broken screw.” 2008. It said the category also topped back on their discretionary spending,
the list for discretionary spending in with 49% of the respondents saying
18 out of the 21 markets across Asia- they would decrease their discretion-
Pacific, Middle East and Africa. ary spending in the next six months

Bar Council allows lawyer to launch book Dr Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic

KUALA LUMPUR: A lawyer who
sued the Bar Council for RM160
million in damages yesterday was
allowed to use the bar’s premises
to launch his book Presumed Guilty
after the bar agreed to settle the
suit.
High Court judge Datuk T.
Selventhiranathan, who recorded
the consent judgment in chambers,
also ordered the bar to put back the
advertisement about the book on
its webpage.
Yesterday, the suit was fixed for
case management.
On May 25, 2009, T. Vijayandran
filed a civil suit against the bar for
denying him the use of its auditori-
um to launch the book and sought a
declaration that its decision violated
his rights to equality under Article 8
of the Federal Constitution.
In his statement of claim, Vijay-
andran said when he launched his
first book, No Intention To Kill, last
year, the bar sold the book for him
and accepted commission on the
sales.
However, when he was plan-
ning to launch his second book in
its auditorium, the bar refused to
allow him to do so, saying it wanted
to scrutinise the book first.
Vijayandran told reporters the
book would be launched tomorrow
at 10.30am in the bar auditorium.
The 54-year-old lawyer, with
20 years’ experience and a former
magistrate, said he was happy the
bar had agreed to settle his suit be-
fore the case was fixed for hearing.
When asked about the RM160
million suit, he said: “I agreed to
withdraw the amount. What I want
is to launch my book there (bar au-
ditorium), but the bar stopped me.
I had no choice but to file a suit”.
– Bernama
adviser of MasterCard Worldwide for
Asia Pacific region, said the global
recession did not appear to have a
Mara aims to enrol 50 grads in top world varsities
KUANTAN: Mara has targeted enroll-
ing at least 50 Mara Junior Science Col-
lege (MRSM) graduates in the world’s
top 10 universities in the future.
Its chairman Datuk Idris Jusoh said
yesterday the target was achievable
as MRSM was recognised as among
the country’s premier educational
institutions that had proven suc-
cessful in producing national leaders,
academicians, corporate firgures and
the country’s first astronaut.
compared with what it was in the last
six months.
The survey is released twice annu-
ally. – Bernama
“Various programmes would be
implemented to ensure that MRSM
continued to be upgraded and
strengthened,” he said.
Speaking at the launch of the 8th
National MRSM Bitara Conference, a
forum for MRSM teachers to share
experiences and develop new ideas
on the MRSM curriculum, he said
teachers and students should also
play their roles to achieve the tar-
get.– Bernama