Pastor Koh case: Lawyer to call as witness ‘whistleblower’ cop

Michael Murty

| May 16, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: A lawyer representing the family of missing pastor Raymond Koh says he plans to call as witness a police officer who admitted that the police Special Branch was involved in the abduction.

“Our search for truth will continue through this Suhakam inquiry,” Gurdial Singh told media at the Suhakam headquarters here today.

“As far as we are concerned, there was a hurried plan by the police to prevent the truth from coming out.”

He said the police officer was an important witness after the revelation by Norhayati Mohd Ariffin, the wife of missing activist Amri Che Mat, that a police officer had given her information on who was involved.

She claimed a police informer had told her that her husband was taken by a team from Bukit Aman which was also responsible for the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh.

Gurdial Singh said it was brought to his attention that the Special Branch was involved in the disappearance of Koh and Amri.

“A whistleblower, Sergeant Shamzaini Mohd Daud, has said that he wants to come clean and does not want to pay for the sins of others.

“He told Amri’s wife that this was indeed a black operation by the Special Branch in which some very senior police officers were involved.

“He claimed it was done with the full knowledge of the former inspector-general of police (Khalid Abu Bakar),” Gurdial said, adding he wants to call Shamzaini as a witness.

Gurdial said if what this “whistleblower” said was true then it would mean a few witnesses who had testified at the inquiry had committed perjury.

“Under Section 15 (2) of the Suhakam Inquiry Act, if you lied on oath, you can be charged for perjury under the Penal Code.

“That’s the angle we are now pursuing.”

Another lawyer for the family, Jerald Gomez, said there was a role for the new home minister to play in cleaning up the police force.

“Independent to this inquiry, the home minister can investigate what is happening in the police force.

“He would also want to clean up the force.”

Norhayati had said the police officer had come to her house in Kangar on the night of May 12. He had shown her and her daughter his IC and police card when asked for proof of identity.

“This police officer, who asked not to be named, told us that he knew who had taken my husband Amri.”

She had also named a top police officer in charge of Bukit Aman Special Branch’s Social Extremism Division (E2) as the person who headed the operation.

“When I asked the police officer why Amri was taken, he alleged it was because of ‘Shia’ and ‘forex’,” she said in a statement.

Norhayati said she lodged a police report and recorded a statement on the matter at the Shah Alam district police headquarters yesterday.

Amri, who co-founded an NGO called Perlis Hope, has been missing since Nov 24, 2016. His wife previously said that five vehicles had blocked his car before he was whisked away some 500 metres from their home in Bukit Chabang, Perlis.

Koh’s abduction on Feb 13 last year was caught on closed circuit TV cameras, showing several men in balaclavas using black SUVs to block his car in broad daylight. He has not been seen since.

Police previously had denied responsibility for his disappearance, but arrested a 31-year-old. The police later charged him with kidnapping Koh.

Suhakam’s hearing into Amri’s case continued this morning, with Kangar police officer Insp Khor Yi Shuen testifying.

The inquiry is also investigating the disappearance of Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife, Ruth. The couple was last seen on Nov 30, 2016.

In explosive twist, wife says Amri nabbed by same cops who took Pastor Koh.

Report: 
16 May 2018- Pastor Koh case: Lawyer to call as witness ‘whistleblower’ cop