Court: MACC can only question witnesses during office hours

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has ruled that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) can only question witnesses during office hours.

Businessman Tan Boon Wah, 39, filed a suit on July 22 claiming that the MACC had falsely imprisoned him when he was detained for late at night along with the deceased political aide Teoh Beng Hock on July 16.

He also named MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan and Selangor MACC assis­tant superintendent Mohammad Hassan Zulkifli as defendants.

Tan, also the Kajang councillor, was said to be the last person to have seen Teoh alive at the MACC office at Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam. Teoh was found dead at the service corridor of the fifth floor of the building on July 16 and an inquest into his controversial death is ongoing at the Shah Alam Coroner’s Court.

The MACC argued that it had the right to interrogate witnesses at odd hours.

On Thursday, Justice Mohd Ariff Md Yusof ruled that it was illegal for the MACC to question its witnesses at night as such questioning must be done during the daytime.

“The term day to day as stipulated in the MACC Act cannot mean round the clock. Following this, the court allows the application for the declaration,” he said.

He also ordered costs to be paid to the plaintiff.