SHAH ALAM: The coroner's court this morning set Jan 22 for the submission of contempt of court application filed against Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officer Raub Ghani by Teoh Beng Hock's brother, Meng Kee, two weeks ago.

Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas requested for submissions to be made on the date to determine if Raub's actions in lodging a police report against independent Thai forensic pathologist, Dr Pornthip Rojanasunan, constituted as an act of contempt out of court.

On Jan 1, Raub, an officer with the MACC Putrajaya branch, lodged the report against Dr Pornthip, claiming she had leaked information on the second post-mortem carried out on Beng Hock to unauthorised people based on an article that appeared in Suara Keadilan.

Lawyer Tan Hock Chuan, representing the Attorney-General's Chambers, told the coroner's court this morning that A-G Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail had opined there was no basis to charge Dr Pornthip, due to the absence of evidence that she had leaked any information on the second post-mortem to the Parti Keadilan Rakyat publication.

He said police had submitted its investigation papers to the A-G's Chambers yesterday afternoon based on the two police reports lodged by Raub and another MACC officer, Hisham Mohd Yusoff, against Dr Pornthip and Suara Keadilan on Jan 1.

"The A-G is of the opinion that anyone can lodge a police report and the law requires the police to investigate."

Abdul Gani's stand has also cleared the way for Dr Pornthip to turn up in court for proceedings. She initially expressed fear of action taken against her, such as being arrested upon entering the country.

On Oct 21, Dr Porntip had told the inquest there was 80 per cent chance that Beng Hock's death was a homicide. She said she found injury marks on Beng Hock that suggested he was strangled; he was unconscious when he fell, and injuries in his anal region suggested penetration by an object before the fall.

This led Azmil to order a second post-mortem be conducted, which was carried out on Nov 22 at Sungai Buloh Hospital.

This morning, Azmil said Abdul Gani's stand meant that the issue had been settled, and along with it, the issue of contempt by Raub for lodging one of the two reports that he suspected that Dr Pornthip had leaked information.

However, lead counsel for Beng Hock's family, Karpal Singh, objected to this, maintaining that it was still contempt on Raub's part for lodging the report.

Meng Kee had filed the contempt of court motion against Raub on Jan 5, through his counsels Karpal and Gobind, as it was felt that Raub's act was tantamount to intimidation of a witness, a crime punishable under Section 5 of the Abduction and Criminal Intimidation of Witnesses Act 1947 (revised 1977).

Meng Kee also lodged a police report against Raub on Jan 13 at the Dang Wangi police district headquarters for the alleged intimidation of witness.

Beng Hock, former political aide to Seri Kembangan assemblyman and Selangor exco Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the rooftop of the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam on July 16 last year, after being questioned by MACC officers at their Selangor headquarters over alleged misuse of allocations by several Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen.

Counsel for Beng Hock's family as well as for the Selangor government had argued that the report against Dr Pornthip was tantamount to criminal intimidation of their witness.

Drama in the courtroom

The contempt of court hearing application filed against Raub was supposed to be carried out today, but ironically, it was MACC's own counsel who found himself facing a contempt of court motion and requested he be imprisoned for a day.

Earlier in the day, MACC counsel Datuk Abdul Razak Musa (left) raised the ire of counsel for Teoh Beng Hock's family, Karpal Singh and Gobind Singh Deo, on a statement he made to Karpal in court.

In objecting to Karpal's continuous use of the word "murder" and statement that MACC could be found responsible for Beng Hock's death, as well as after being told to sit down by Karpal, Abdul Razak uttered,"I will sit down but you cannot stand up."

His remark incensed Gobind, prompted him on his feet before launching a tirade on Abdul Razak, calling him irresponsible and "a shameful man."

Karpal then told Azmil to cite Abdul Razak for contempt of court and be jailed for insulting a member of the Bar.

Abdul Razak then apologised, but instead of backing down, Karpal said this was not a defence and he should still be charged for contempt.

Azmil tried to defuse the situation by saying: "He has already apologised. It is between you and him now", and also cautioned Abdul Razak over his actions in court.

However, Karpal was unrelenting, saying that Abdul Razak should be cited for contempt stating that Abdul Razak's words were not just an insult to him alone but to all disabled people in Malaysia.

He also insisted that Azmil make a ruling on Abdul Razak's contempt before deciding on the other contempt issue against Raub, as he stated Abdul Razak's apology was merely a mitigation factor and not a defence.

Azmil adjourned the court for a half hour to allow Karpal time to look up the law to confirm this.

Upon resuming at 12.30pm, Azmil said although there was element of contempt by Abdul Razak, the latter had apologised before he could cite him for contempt, and such his apology had "purged him of his contempt."

He said this after Karpal had cited several previous cases in which it was not necessary for an apology to be accepted. He said the penalty was a fine of RM150 or term of imprisonment.

Karpal had suggested Abdul Razak be sentenced to a one-day imprisonment for his act of contempt and told Azmil there were no provision in the law for a caution as a punishment.

Lawyer Malik Imtiaz, who represented the Selangor Government in the inquest and who, today, spoke on behalf of the bar council, told Azmil the State and the Bar Council backed Karpal's contempt of court application and suggested sentence.