The family of Customs assistant director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, who was found dead at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office three years ago, filed a RM8 million suit against the government, MACC, its chief commissioner and six officers today.
Claiming that MACC caused the "unlawful" death of Ahmad Sarbani, his widow, Masiah @ Maziah Manap said she wanted to know what really happened to her husband.
Lawyer N. Surendran who filed the suit at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on behalf of his widow Masiah and her son Shahril Ahmad Sarbani, said that alternatively, the defendants should also be held responsible for causing Ahmad Sarbani to fall from the window of the MACC building onto the badminton court in its office premises in Jalan Cochrane on April 6, 2011.
The family also claimed that the defendants mounted a mental attack on Ahmad Sarbani, which resulted in his death.
"I believe he is innocent, I need to know the truth," said Masiah, who was present at the Jalan Duta court complex today.
Surendran said that it was unacceptable that three years later, still no one has been held responsible for the Customs officer's death.
"He was at all times under the care and responsibility of MACC, he was taken in for questioning but came out of there a dead man," he said.
Surendran added that until today, there was no proof that Ahmad Sarbaini was involved in any graft wrongdoing.
Following the incident, an inquest was held and in September 2011, the coroner ruled out murder, foul play and suicide in the death of Ahmad Sarbani (pic) who was then 56-years-old.
Coroner Aizatul Akmal Maharani had found that the admission by Ahmad Sarbani to MACC on April 4 to receiving bribes from two forwarding agents had affected his thinking.
According to Aizatul, the pressure resulted in Ahmad Sarbani wanting to retract his admission of guilt, which was why he returned to the MACC office on April 6.
As such, the coroner said that Ahmad Sarbani's death was an accident, adding that the theory that he was murdered could not be supported. The coroner then issued a verdict of misadventure.
The family, however, rejected the verdict.
Surendran told reporters today that it was absurd to believe that Ahmad Sarbani, who had a respectable job and family to look after, would climb onto a window ledge.
"And when the incident happened, the authorities immediately came up with statements that he tried to commit suicide.
"And the CCTV recording in the MACC office was erased, so all this raises many questions and it is very clear that his death was caused by MACC and its officers," Surendran added.
Ahmad Sarbani was found dead on the badminton court located at the first floor of the MACC office on April 6, 2011.
He was among 62 Customs officers detained by MACC in a graft probe, involving losses of up to RM2.2 billion in under-declared taxes. – April 4, 2014.
