03-06-2025
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
I didn't look for new leads, police officer tells Pastor Koh trial
Missing Pastor Raymond Koh's wife wants the authorities to be held liable for her husband's abduction and for misfeasance in public office. (File pic)
KUALA LUMPUR : An investigating officer who probed Pastor Raymond Koh's disappearance told the High Court today that he did not continue the investigation to look for new leads in the case.
Ahmad Marzuki Ibrahim said he took over the investigation from his senior colleague, Supari Muhammad, in February 2019, and he only focussed on looking for a suspect, one Saiful Bahari Abdul Aziz.
'I wanted to take Saiful's statement to know if he wanted to make any denials (of his involvement in Koh's disappearance),' he said when testifying in the hearing of a lawsuit filed by Koh's wife, Susanna Liew, against the police and government over the pastor's disappearance.
Liew wants the authorities to be held liable for her husband's abduction and for misfeasance in public office.
Marzuki said he could not track down Saiful until 2022, when he was transferred to another department.
To a question from Liew's lawyer, Jerald Gomez, Marzuki said he did not know who was appointed the new investigating officer after his transfer.
Marzuki also pointed out that Lam Chang Nam, a former e-hailing driver, was charged in the magistrates' court in 2018 with kidnapping Koh.
Gomez then asked the officer if he was called to testify for the prosecution since he was the investigating officer on record. Marzuki said he was not called.
He acknowledged that there was no evidence from statements recorded from Lam and Koh's son, Jonathan, to implicate the former e-hailing driver in the kidnapping.
Lam was acquitted at the end of the prosecution's case but in 2021 was ordered to enter his defence on a charge of extorting Koh's family.
The hearing before Justice Su Tiang Joo continues on July 8.
