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©New Straits Times (Used by permission) 
by V. Anbalagan

•'My brother a freeloader'
• Lazar sought my help, alleges Lingam
• Three PKR men won't be called for the time being
• New segment gets the short shrift

KUALA LUMPUR: Former chief justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, who is implicated in a judicial scandal, yesterday denied he was the person speaking to lawyer Datuk V.K Lingam on the telephone over the appointment of judges.

He said the video clip, purportedly showing Lingam speaking to him, was a fabrication.

Ahmad Fairuz, who retired last year, said he had written to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz on the allegation and the position he had taken.

He said he did not lodge a police report when the contents of the clip were posted on a news portal last year.

This was because an article in the news portal revealed that a report would be lodged with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and the Bar Council.

Ahmad Fairuz, the 14th witness to take the stand before the Royal Commission of Inquiry, said he did not want to file a defamation suit because newspaper articles on Sept 20 did not explicitly name him as the judicial officer speaking to Lingam.

He was replying to questions by his counsel Salehuddin Saidin.

He said he came to know about an eight-minute video clip after Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim released it on Sept 19 last year.

"That evening as I was about to leave office, my secretary gave me a copy of the news article and a transcript of the telephone conversation which was downloaded from the news portal," he said.

Salehuddin: What was your reaction after reading the transcript?

Ahmad Fairuz: I felt it was defamatory and two things crossed my mind. It was a fabrication and the man speaking in the clip was trying to impress the persons around him that he knew the PM, the judges and very important people.

He said he read the transcript several times and then wrote a letter to Abdullah, Najib and Nazri to explain his opinion and stand on the clip.

Ahmad Fairuz, who was at that time the chief judge of Malaya, said the contents of the letter to the three men were the same. The letters were also accompanied by a transcript of the conversation.

Salehuddin: Why did you decide to send letters to the PM, DPM and Nazri?

Ahmad Fairuz: The three are representatives of the executive branch of the government. I am the head of the judiciary and I wanted to inform them about the allegation against me and the position I had taken.

He said at the time of sending the letters, he was unsure who was the person speaking on the clip but now knew that the allegation made by Lingam was false.

"It is not true Lingam had spoken to me and all the contents in the transcript are false," Ahmad Fairuz said, adding that the conversation in the clip was a monologue and that his voice could not be heard.

He said his name was also not mentioned as the person speaking on the other end of the line during the conversation.

Salehuddin: Why didn't you make a police report or file a defamation suit?

Ahmad Fairuz: At the tail end of the article from the news portal, it said that a report would be lodged with the ACA and the Bar Council. Newspaper publications on Sept 20 did not name me as the individual on the other side of the line but referred to the person as a top judge.

Ahmad Fairuz said the public would have interpreted him to be the top judge if he had made a report to the police.

"I also did not file a suit because I was not sure who had defamed me. I knew the ACA will act on the matter," he said.

Ahmad Fairuz said reporters also attempted to get his comments about the clip but decided against responding because it would jeopardise investigations.

He said that he never met Lingam after the alleged incident and that he did not know Lingam's telephone nor did he give his mobile number to the lawyer.

"I also did not contact Lingam, fearing that there will be allegations that I called him to deny about the conversation in the clip. Anyway, I was still the chief justice and there was no reason to call him."

Ahmad Fairuz said he was appointed chief justice on March 16, 2003.

He said he knew Lingam, businessman Tan Sri Vincent Tan and then Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

"I came in contact with Tengku Adnan because he was a minister. My ties with Lingam was confined to judge-lawyer relationship while I met Tan at public functions."

A 14-minute clip, which is an extension of the eight-minute footage was played at yesterday's proceedings.

Ahmad Fairuz said he could not positively identify Lingam as the man speaking in the clip.

"However, the voice of the man is similar to Lingam."

Lazar sought my help, alleges Lingam

By Anis Ibrahim and K. Harinderan

KUALA LUMPUR: Senior lawyer Robert Lazar had allegedly asked Datuk V.K. Lingam to speak to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to help him become an appellate judge.

Lingam made this allegation before the Royal Commission yesterday, saying that Lazar had probably been "desperate" to go straight to the Court of Appeal.

Lazar, one of the lawyers representing the Malaysian Bar, was not at the inquiry yesterday as he was attending to another matter at a different court.

In an immediate response, the Bar Council sought the inquiry's permission for Lazar to clear his name today.

The lawyer, when contacted by the New Straits Times last night, refused to comment but said: "I will say my piece tomorrow (today)."

In the past week, Lazar and another Bar Council lawyer Ranjit Singh, had grilled Lingam on his holiday in New Zealand with Tun Eusoff Chin in December 1994.

At that time, Eusoff Chin was the chief justice.

Photographs of Lingam, Eusoff Chin and their families that were taken in New Zealand, along with air tickets and itineraries were tendered as exhibits to show that the holiday was not a mere coincidence.

In proceedings yesterday, Lingam raised a few eyebrows when he mentioned Lazar's name while on the stand.

Eusoff Chin's counsel, Mohd Fozi Mat Zain, asked Lingam if anyone had ever asked him to see the chief justice to procure an appointment as a judicial commissioner or judge.

"Someone did approach me for help, not to see Eusoff Chin but to see Dr Mahathir so that he could become a Court of Appeal judge," Lingam replied.

Chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor then asked: "Was this during Eusoff Chin's time?"

Lingam: Yes. He told me to see Dr Mahathir's son Mirzan, whom I was acting for then. I told him Mirzan was a client, not a friend, so I couldn't see him about that.

At this juncture, Ranjit took the floor and asked Lingam: "Were you close to this person who had sought your assistance to be a Court of Appeal judge?

Lingam: He was well known to me, but we were not very close.

Ranjit: Did you socialise with this person?

Lingam: No.

Ranjit: Why do you feel that this person was under the impression that you had connections to Dr Mahathir, that you would be able to procure his appointment?

Lingam: I guess this person really wanted to be on the Bench. He was desperate and wanted to go straight up to the Court of Appeal like Gopal Sri Ram.

Court of Appeal judge Datuk Gopal Sri Ram was a lawyer before he entered the judicial service.

He was appointed to the Court of Appeal without becoming a judicial commissioner or High Court judge.

Lingam: He believed that if he had asked me to see Eusoff Chin, he would become a judicial commissioner first. He was acting for the other side in a case I was involved in at the time.

Lingam then added: "His name is Robert Lazar and he is a partner in Shearn Delamore."

Haidar then interjected that the question was never asked nor raised by the counsel in the enquiry.

When Ranjit asked Lingam when Lazar had allegedly made the request, he replied: "Early 2000."

After the lunch break, another Malaysian Bar counsel, Yeo Yang Poh, asked the commission to allow Lazar an opportunity to refute Lingam's claims.

"We've spoken to him and would like to request that he be permitted to testify that there was no truth to the allegations."

Haidar allowed the request.

Commissioner Datuk Mahadev Shankar added: "We have taken note of the fact that Lingam volunteered that last bit of information (of naming the lawyer), as well as the manner in which it was volunteered."

'My brother a freeloader'

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk V.K. Lingam said his brother was a freeloader and a psychiatric patient.

Responding to a question by his lawyer, R. Thayalan, on why his brother, V.K. Thirunama Karasu, had lodged two police reports against him, Lingam replied:

"It was due to an irretrievable breakdown in our relationship."

Lingam told the commission that the relationship between Thirunama and his younger brother, V.K. Rajendran, as well as his other siblings were strained over the last few years.

"All of my brothers and sisters had supported him and his family financially all these years, especially after the demise of our parents, but he kept on asking for more."

Lingam said Thirunama had told Kanagaletchumy (his sister) that he (Lingam) had promised him a bungalow, a Mercedes Benz, to educate his two daughters and to support his family financially.

He added that he did not make such a promise, that he believed in helping his brother, but not to the extent of having him live on them.

Lingam said he had learnt of the two reports, which alleged that he brokered the appointment and elevation of judges from M. Manoharan, who was also Thirunama's lawyer, on March 28 last year.

During a telephone conversation, Manoharan had asked if he would pay to have the reports withdrawn.

Lingam said he refused and added that his brother was a psychiatric patient who often tried to obtain as much money from him as possible.

Three PKR men won't be called for the time being

KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will not, for the time being, be called to give evidence.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry also decided yesterday that the testimony of PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah and co-ordinator Sim Tze Tzin would not be required at the present time.

"We do not see the need at this stage to call them, but that would depend on the developments of the case," the commission's chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor said.

On Friday, the commission listened to submissions in camera by lawyers M. Puravalen who represented Anwar, Sivarasa and Sim, and Wee Choo Keong who represented V. Thirunama Karasu, Datuk V.K. Lingam's brother.

Puravalen and Wee had submitted that their clients' testimony was relevant to the terms and conditions of the inquiry.

Submissions were also made on why another of Lingam's brothers, V. Rajendran and former Bank Negara assistant governor Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid, should be called as witnesses.

Soon after day 10 of the inquiry began, Haidar said the commission had decided on Friday's submissions.

"In the course of our discussions on Rajendran, we have decided that his evidence is merely supportive of what Thirunama is going to do. We therefore do not propose to call him."

Where Thirunama was concerned, Datuk Mahadev Shankar told Wee that only certain designated portions of his witness's statement were regarded as relevant to show the close relationship between Lingam and former chief justice Tun Eusoff Chin.

"Only these paragraphs will be allowed as evidence."

The admitted portions of Thirunama's evidence are:

- paragraph 1, headed 'Sending files to Tun Eusoff Chin's house': where Thirunama described the occasion when he had been asked to drive Lingam to Eusoff's house.

- paragraph 5, headed 'Intended Purchase of a House for Tun Eusoff Chin': Thirunama said his brother had offered a house at No. 2 SS1/28 Kg Tunku, Petaling Jaya as a present to Eusoff and his wife. The house, however, was rejected when Eusoff had "asked for bigger land to build a house of his own choice".

- paragraph 8, headed 'Handbag and Wallet given to Tun Eusoff Chin': Thirunama said upon Lingam's instructions, he had personally delivered to Eusoff the handbag and wallet which Lingam had bought in Italy.

- paragraph 9(2): headed 'Purchase of Handphone for Tun Eusoff Chin': Thirunama said Lingam had given him RM1,200 in cash to purchase a handphone from Mutiara TeleCommunications at Lot 1, Shahzan Prudential Tower, Jalan Sultan Ismail for Eusoff.

Shankar went through the points individually and each time, Lingam responded: "That is certainly not true", denying every claim.

New segment gets the short shrift

KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Commission of Inquiry was yesterday told that a third segment of the video clip purportedly showing Datuk V.K. Lingam discussing judicial appointment with a judge had just been released.

Counsel M. Puravalen, who is representing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, said this after learning that his client would not be called to give evidence to the commission.

Commission chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor said it was unwise for Anwar to release the clip on an instalment basis.

"Don't do it like that. We have a job to do here. Please tell your client that we cannot be dancing to his tune," he added.

Another commission member, Datuk Mahadev Shankar, said previously Anwar had broadcast the two earlier clips to the entire world.

"Now, he wants to share it with us," he said.

Haidar told Puravalen to inform Anwar to get in touch with deputy public prosecutor Datuk Nordin Hassan, who is assisting in the inquiry.

An eight-minute clip was released on Sept 19 and a 14-minute clip on Dec 19 last year.

The new segment allegedly implicated another former chief justice for allegedly receiving bribes from a senior lawyer and a business tycoon.

Businessman Loh Mui Fah said in a statement yesterday that he had asked his son Gwo Burne, who recorded the video, to do everything possible to recover all records of it.

"This is to ensure the commission is not disrupted by further possible revelations of other clips taken that evening.

"I believe that production of the recordings may assist the commission in its task," he added.

On Jan 15, Mui Fah told the commission that Gwo Burne had filmed the alleged conversation between Lingam and the top judge.

He had also told the commission that Lingam had informed him that the judge at the other end of the line was the then chief judge of Malaya, Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

The clip was said to be recorded at Lingam's house in Kelana Jaya between 7pm and 11pm on Dec 20, 2001 when the Lohs went to the lawyer's house to discuss family legal matters.

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