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©The Star (Used by permission)
by Lee Yuk Peng and Florence A. Samy

KUALA LUMPUR: It is a balanced team, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz in describing the five members of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the videoclip of a senior lawyer allegedly brokering the appointment of judges.

This was so, because one of the members was a woman and two were on the earlier three-man independent panel to verify the authenticity of the clip, he said yesterday.

On why social activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, who was one of the members in the earlier panel, was not in the commission, Nazri replied: “I do not know why he declined.”

Asked whether reports by the independent panel and the royal commission would be made public, Nazri said: “We will see later.”

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang is to move a motion on Monday objecting to the terms of reference for the commission and the appointment of former Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Haidar Mohd Noor as commission chairman.

“The appointment of Haidar and the restricted terms of reference are disappointing and a great letdown for Malaysians who had looked forward to a new chapter for the judiciary and administration of justice,” he told a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

Lim claimed Haidar was not acceptable or suitable because of his role in the 1988 judicial crisis over the sacking of Tun Salleh Abas as Lord President and two Supreme Court judges, Datuk George Seah and the late Tan Sri Wan Sulaiman Pawanteh.

Malaysian Democratic Party secretary-general Wee Choo Keong, who had been with V. Thirunama Karasu when he lodged a police report against his lawyer brother Datuk V.K. Lingam last month said Karasu had told him that he would present himself to the commission, reports SHAILA KOSHY.

He said that Karasu would provide whatever evidence he had concerning the three police reports alleging corrupt practice involving “retired judges and one sitting judge.”

Suaram called on the commission to conduct its inquiry in public and for the Government to make public all three reports of the inquiry panel, while Parti Keadilan Rakyat has called on the Prime Minister to reconsider the appointment of three members.

PKR treasurer-general William Leong also asked the three – Haidar, former Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Mahadev Shankar who had sat on the earlier panel and former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong whose name is mentioned in the videoclip – to recuse themselves.

The party’s de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will make public today the full 14 minutes of the videoclip showing a lawyer purportedly brokering the appointment and promotion of judges with a senior judge.

On Sept 19, Anwar and party vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah had revealed eight minutes of the clip to the media.

Panel to decide on logistics and meeting place today

by Shaila Koshy

KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the videoclip takes its first step today when its chairman meets with the secretary to discuss logistics.

Tan Sri Haidar Mohd Noor and Datuk Abdullah Sani Ab Hamid will determine where the commission secretariat will be and where the commission will meet.

“Most of the members are closer to Kuala Lumpur so that might be better but we will need a place for three months,” said Haidar.

The other members of the commission are former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong, former Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Mahadev Shankar, former Solicitor General Puan Sri Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh and Suhakam commissioner and Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister's Office announced the commission to probe a videoclip purportedly showing a lawyer brokering the appointment of judges.

This announcement follows that by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Nov 16 that a Royal Commission would be established to inquire into the videoclip that was made public in September.

He said that the decision to form the commission was based on the reports of an independent panel – comprising Haidar, Shankar and social activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye – that had been set up to determine the authenticity of the videoclip.

The terms of reference for the commission are to ascertain the authenticity of the videoclip, identify the speaker, the person he was speaking to and the persons mentioned in the conversation, ascertain the truth of the content of the conversation, determine whether any person identified or mentioned in the clip has committed any misbehaviour, and to recommend appropriate action against them.

On whether three months was enough time to complete its job, Haidar said: “I hope it is sufficient, I will certainly try my best and work very hard.”

“I see these terms of reference as an extension of the previous terms of reference,” he said when asked whether the first term of reference (authenticating the clip) was a duplication of the inquiry by the independent panel.

Asked whether the commission would be using or adopting the findings of the earlier panel on the authentication, Haidar replied: “I don’t know. This will be discussed by the commission members later.”

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