Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand is in town.....

Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, who has been engaged by the Selangor government in relation to the Teoh Beng Hock inquest, arrived this afternoon under a veil of secrecy and tight security provided by the state. Pornthip arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport about 12.30pm. She is due to testify when the inquest resumes tomorrow in Shah Alam.

Asked what had prompted her decision to attend the inquest and how long she would be in Malaysia, Pornthip declined comment. Tricia Yeoh, research officer at the Selangor menteri besar's office, met her on arrival together with nine other Selangor officials and five police personnel. They escorted her out of the VIP lounge at KLIA.

Security detail hired

Lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, who represents Pornthip and the Selangor government at the inquest, told Malaysiakini via SMS that the state had kept Pornthip's arrival quiet for security reasons. The Selangor government is believed to have hired its own security detail to protect Pornthip. This was prompted by worry over allegations she had made during her visit last November, that someone had been tailing her after the second post-mortem.

In April, Pornthip had decided against appearing at the inquest following “advice” from her employer - the Thai Justice Ministry - to cancel the trip due to “political pressure” from the Malaysian government. Last October, Pornthip had said that, based on observation of the first post mortem, there was an 80 percent chance that Teoh's death was the result of homicide. Her controversial findings prompted a second autopsy last November.

Pornthip, along with Dr Peter Vanezis, a British pathologist hired by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), were present as observers. Vanezis and government pathologist Dr Shahidan Md Noor, who performed the second post-mortem, have since testified at the inquest. All that remains is for Pornthip to present her findings. Shahidan had ruled out strangulation as the cause of death, while Vanezis stated that Teoh was conscious when he fell but stopped short of saying that it was suicide.

Following the revelation last week of a note purportedly written by Teoh, allegedly discovered only two months after his death, Pornthip's testimony has become even more critical to the inquest. The note has been described by the print media as a 'suicide note', but Teoh's family members have disputed the authenticity of the document.

Teoh was found dead on July 16 last year at Plaza Masalam, after being questioned overnight by the MACC as a witness in a case involving an exco's alleged misuse of Selangor government allocations.

source:malaysiakini

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