Khir Toyo denies allegations in mystery letter

By Neville Spykerman KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 – Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo has denied allegations contained in a mystery letter purportedly written by unnamed MACC officers that implicates him in a conspiracy with a senior anti-graft officer to bring down the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Selangor government. "The allegations are not true," the former Selangor mentri besar told The Malaysian Insider from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, when told about the letter. "I do not know this MACC officer." He added that he was not aware of the letter but would take legal action against any website for publishing it. The letter was delivered two days ago to Gobind Singh Deo, the lawyer for Teoh Beng Hock's family, and was sent by anonymous parties claiming to be "MACC officers" who urged the authorities to probe a senior anti-graft officer for corruption and involvement in the DAP political aide's death. The letter, written in Bahasa Malaysia on an MACC letterhead, appears to give lawyers for the family ammunition and a roadmap to investigate Teoh's death. A senior official of the MACC was named as someone who was personally involved in questioning Teoh in the final hours before he died. An account of what happened during questioning was also suggested. The letter accuses the senior official of widespread corruption involving previous investigations. It also accuses the senior officer of acting on the instruction of Dr Mohd Khir from the time he was the Selangor mentri besar to initiate investigations into possible corruption involving the current government. In the letter, a number of previous investigations purportedly involving Dr Mohd Khir's administration are listed, and the senior officer was said to have covered up those cases. Yesterday, magistrate Azmil Muntapha Abas, who is acting as coroner in the inquest into Teoh's death, ordered the police investigating officer, ASP Ahmad Nazri Zainal, to immediately look into the contents of the letter and check all its claims. Azmil also told the lawyers involved not to disclose the details of the letter to anyone but did not issue a "gag order" as requested by Tan Hock Chuan, the lawyer heading the Attorney-General's team and assisting him in the inquest. Tan asked for the "gag" to prevent putting the police follow-up at risk, as several notable people are said to be named in the controversial letter. But Gobind, who is representing Teoh's family, said a gag would not necessarily prevent the details from leaking out. Gobind said the letter was handed directly to him late Tuesday afternoon, just as he was leaving the court here. The envelope it came in was not addressed to him, he said. He refused to say who it was directed to.