MACC offices will video record interrogations

PUTRAJAYA: All Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) offices nationwide will be equipped with video interviewing rooms (VIR) in an upgrading exercise.All the 36 MACC offices will be equipped with the VIR rooms by year-end to the tune of RM140,000 to RM160,000 per room.MACC investigations director Mustafar Ali said that all the interviews in the rooms would be recorded using audiovisual equipment.

"Three copies of the recording will be made: one copy will be kept by the MACC, another for the court and the third can be requested through a lawyer by the suspect but not the witness,” he said, adding that statements would be taken in a transparent and orderly manner.He also promised that all officers would be given training so they could get used to the new operating procedure, and that only fully trained officers would be allowed to interview suspects.The VIRs are a direct result of the report released by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the death of former political aide Teoh Beng Hock, which called on the MACC to provide interview rooms with an audiovisual recording system.

The RCI had unanimously ruled that Teoh, a former DAP aide of Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was driven to suicide after coming under aggressive and continuous questioning from MACC officers.Teoh, 30, was found dead on July 16, 2009, on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam after being questioned overnight by MACC officers at their then-Selangor headquarters on the 14th floor.

However, the VIRs will only be used for suspects and witnesses who may possibly be hostile.Teoh and Selangor customs assistant director Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed, who was found dead on April 6 at the MACC Kuala Lumpur office in Jalan Cochrane – were investigated as witnesses.The three MACC officers in charge of interrogating Teoh – the then deputy director for Selangor Hishammuddin Hashim, officers Mohd Anuar Ismail and Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus – are under investigation and have been suspended.MACC announced last Saturday the temporary suspension of the three officers pending an internal probe.However, Mustafar said that his other officers would not be penalised.



Source : http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/07/26/macc-offices-will-video-record-interrogations/