By SIRA HABIBU

PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA - The lead investigator probing alleged abuse of constituency funds by Selangor assemblymen has been reassigned after receiving threats.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission head Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan said:

'As there was a threat on his life, we took him off the case and reassigned him elsewhere. We are doing this for his own security.'

Ahmad also confirmed that the commission had received several threats, demanding that it stop investigations into the case.

He vowed that the commission would continue with the probe despite threats and controversy arising from the death of Teoh Beng Hock.

'We treat such threats as part of the job hazard. It is a big risk that we have to take in fulfilling our duties,' he said yesterday.

Ahmad said it was good that the Government had ordered an inquest and set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to uncover the truth behind Teoh's death.

Teoh, a political secretary to Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on July 16, hours after giving a statement at the commission's office on the 14th floor on alleged corruption.

Teoh was said to be one of the key witnesses in the investigation against several Selangor assemblymen.

Ahmad also admonished those who took issue with the commission's interview method that sometimes dragged until the early hours of the morning.

'It is not by choice that we choose to stay on until the wee hours of the morning to record statements from witnesses and suspects.

'But in certain cases we need to act fast to check attempts to wipe out evidence and tracks,' he said, adding that some suspects were cooperative while some could be hostile.