Io Never Said Pastor Koh Abduction Looked Like Police Operation Court Told

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The investigating officer (IO) behind the enforced disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh never commented that the incident looked like a police operation, the government’s counsel told the civil court.
Senior federal counsel Nurul Farhana Khalid told this to the High Court in Kuala Lumpur which today was hearing a lawsuit by the missing man’s family against the government and police over his abduction in 2017.
“My instruction is that (Inspector) Ali (Basra Abu Bakar) never made a comment that the incident looked like a police operation,” Nurul Farhana said.
She was in the midst of cross-examining lawyer Roeshan Celestine Gomez, who was a witness for the family.
On Oct 19, 2017, during the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) inquiry into the incident, lawyer Roeshan testified that Ali told him “not to worry and that it looked very much like the modus operandi of a police operation”.
Pastor’s car
Roeshan then was telling the inquiry that Ali was recording his statement over the incident that the lawyer testified he saw, namely that Koh (above) was being abducted from the pastor’s car in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, on Feb 13, 2017. Ali, who was stationed at the Kelana Jaya police station then, had also testified during the inquiry.
On April 3, 2019, Suhakam concluded that Koh’s abduction was an enforced disappearance that involved the Special Branch from the police headquarters in Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur.
A year later, the missing man’s wife Susanna Liew filed a civil court action to compel the authorities to reveal his whereabouts.
In the course of the full court trial of the civil action, Roeshan had reiterated through his testimony that Ali had told him that the whole abduction looked like a police operation, with the witness telling the civil court that the whole incident looked “professionally done”.
During proceedings before judicial commissioner Su Tiang Joo, Roeshan disagreed with Nurul Farhana’s cross-examination that Ali never told the witness that the incident looked like a police operation.
Later during re-examination by the family's counsel Jerald Gomez, Roeshan reiterated that Ali did make the comment to the witness that the incident looked like a police operation.
"For sure, Ali said it looked like a police operation; he later made phone calls to confirm there was a police operation that day. I then felt relieved as I felt that it has been resolved and I then went home," Roeshan said.
The witness added that he only began to realise the abduction involved Pastor Koh when he later received a WhatsApp message after the day of the incident, which revealed that the one who was abducted was Pastor Koh.
Trial before Su is set to resume on Aug 21 and 22.
Amri Che Mat with wife Norhayati Mohd AriffinBesides Koh, Suhakam also ruled that activist Amri Che Mat was a victim of enforced disappearance involving the Special Branch and the police force. Amri was abducted sometime around midnight on Nov 24, 2016.
In November 2019, Amri’s wife Norhayati Mohd Ariffin filed a suit against 21 defendants in relation to her husband’s disappearance, including some of the same defendants named in Liew’s suit.
Norhayati’s legal action is also set to be heard before Su tomorrow, with her, as well as her daughter Amirah, set to take the witness stand. - Mkini

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