KUALA LUMPUR: The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) is in the final stages of establishing a task force to implement recommendations from its study on death in custody cases.

Its chairman Tan Sri Dr Ismail Bakar said that the task force would be led by one of the EAIC commissioners and will include officials from various ministries and relevant enforcement agencies.

"The terms of reference (ToR) for the task force will be finalised once it is officially established," he said in response to an inquiry from the New Straits Times (NST).

He also expressed hope that the task force would be formed and convened in the near future, underscoring the importance of addressing the critical issue of deaths in custody.

Among the proposed agencies are the Home Ministry and several agencies under its jurisdiction, including the police, Immigration Department, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) and National Anti-Drugs Agency (Nada).

Others are Attorney General Chambers, Chief Government Security Officer (CGSO) under the Prime Minister's Department; Health Ministry, Works Ministry, Finance Ministry, Customs Department, Public Service Department (PSD), as well as the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and the Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC).

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in a statement on May 7 had instructed EAIC to form a task force to look into recommendations that it made in its study on custodial deaths in Malaysia.

They include measures to prevent deaths in custody that would require the involvement of different government agencies.

EAIC in its study found 430 custodial deaths in the country between 2011 and 2021.

The study covered the police, Immigration Department, Nada, Customs Department and MMEA.

The agencies are under the EAIC's purview, except for the police, now monitored by the IPCC, which was set up last year.