Monday 20 July 2009

Salva Veritate (Saving the truth)

The handphone belonging to the late Teoh Boon Hock has apparently been discovered.

Police were however tightlipped on this issue so far.

In NST: “I do not want to reveal where it was found because the information is crucial to our investigations,” said Selangor Police Chief.

The Sun meanwhile learnt that “Teoh's handphone which … appeared to be missing was handed over to police along with his other belongings by a MACC investigating officer who had earlier recorded a statement from the deceased on Friday.”

That this “discovery” is crucial to investigations is spot on.

This would be purely speculative but if what The Sun “learnt” is correct, questions must be asked as to why the MACC is still holding on to the handphone of the deceased, who is said to be a mere witness, even after he was allowed to leave.

For all we know, it could be for the simple fact that the keeper of these kept items has gone off as it was way after office hours.

A person’s handphone is easily a personal extension of himself with a myriad of information contain within.

A normal person would undoubtedly place a call, or place an SMS to a loved one at the very least, when they are freed after being subjected to an eight hour long “hiatus”.

(The Malay Mail today (no link, apologies) says its 11 hours. My God!)

We await further revelations on this.

The Sun also had another interesting highlight in their columnist page, courtesy of Citizen Nades who was writing on Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) which the MACC is said to be fashioned from.

“We were shown rooms where suspects and witnesses had their statements taken. They are equipped with video recording equipment and ICAC’s No. 2, Daniel Li was quick to explain the presence of a convex mirror in a corner of the room.

“That mirror will show all the people present in the room and no one can make complaints that our officers were intimidating them while their statements were being recorded.”

At the end of the session, the interviewee is given a copy of the recording (which would help prepare his defence) while the investigating officer gets another and a third is sealed and deposited in the vault.

“That’s because if the contents are disputed by the prosecution or the defence, the courts accept the sealed copy as authentic,” said Li.”


Wow. That would really be going by the book. There’s no way you can mishandle a suspect or even a witness if such is in place.

No more allegations of abuse can be thrown against our overworked enforcement officers then.

That would have provided both side the confidence that whatever they say will stand up in the eyes of the law.

Justice is about fairplay, and nothing in fairer than such transparency.

Shouldn’t this be the way forward, then?

Scenes from DC Comics "The Killing Joke"

DC Comics

No comments: