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©Bernama
(Used by permission)
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- Former chief justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh
Abdul Halim described the conversation in the video clip purportedly linking his
name in the appointment of judges was a slander.
Ahmad Fairuz, who testified before the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the
controversial video clip, said he did not know why the man in the video clip,
who was said to be lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam, had linked his name in the
conversation and slandered him.
"I don't know why he (Lingam) did it, may be he was merely trying to impress
other people there that he knew the prime minister and other dignitaries, and
that he knew the Chief Judge of Malaya," he said when replying to lawyer
Salehuddin Saidin, who was representing him.
Replying to another question from Salehuddin, Fairuz said when he held the posts
of Chief Judge of Malaya, Appeals Court President and Chief Justice, he did not
know that there were people who had tried to help by lobbying for him to get the
posts.
Ahmad Fairuz said he first came to know about the video clip through his former
secretary on the same day that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim made the announcement to
expose the video clip on Nov 19, last year.
He said that in the afternoon of that day (Nov 19), his former secretary had
given him two articles obtained from the Malaysiakini website entitled "Video
Link CJ To Judge Fixing Scandal" and "Transcript Of Lingam Conversation With
Ahmad Fairuz".
When questioned by Salehuddin whether he had taken any action after reading the
articles and transcript, Ahmad Fairuz said he had read the two documents
repeatedly and on the following day, he had drafted a letter addressed to the
prime minister, deputy prime minister and minister in the prime minister's
department (Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz) to explain his views and position on
the video clip.
"I chose to send a letter to the three individuals as they were members of the
Executive Body where I, as head of the Judiciary, must inform the Executive Body
on the allegations against me and what my stand was."
Ahmad Fairuz was later shown the letters he had sent to the prime minister,
deputy prime minister and minister in the prime minister's department (all three
letters carried the same contents and had the Malaysiakini articles and
transcripts attached) which among others stated "Following is my explanation, I
had never talked to "V.K Lingam".
Replying to Salehuddin's question why he wrote the name Lingam within inverted
commas, Ahmad Fairuz said it was because he was not sure who was talking on the
telephone in the video clip and he could not see clearly (the person in the
video clip) at that time.
"In my explanation, I had also stated that I had never made such conversation.
The contents in the transcript of the conversation were allegations that Lingam
was talking to me on the topic, and I'm saying that they were all untrue.
"The recording of the conversation in the video clip was merely a monologue
because my voice was not heard in the conversation and only Lingam's voice was
heard," he said.
Ahmad Fairuz said that in his explanation in the letter, he said there were no
indications that could link him to the video clip because his name was not
mentioned as the other party speaking to Lingam on the telephone.
Asked by Salehuddin whether it had occurred to him to lodge a police report or
to take legal action for slander, Ahmad Fairuz said: "I had never thought of
doing so because the Malaysiakini article had already mentioned that there was a
party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) which would lodge a report with the
Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and also lodge a complaint with the Bar Council.
"In the newspapers published subsequently, no reference was made to my name but
only that of Lingam who was reported to be conversing with a senior judge,
therefore, if I were to lodge a police report, it would be misconstrued that I
was the senior judge.
"I did not take any legal action for libel because I was not certain who was
slandering me and that the ACA was also carrying out an investigation. So, it
was not nice for me to take such action," he said.
Ahmad Fairuz said he would only take legal action after he knew for certain who
was slandering him.
Responding to another question by Salehuddin whether the media had contacted him
regarding the video clip, Ahmad Fairuz said he had been informed by his former
secretary that there were people from the media who had tried to get his
comments but he did not want to comment because an investigation would be
carried out.
Asked by Salehuddin whether he had contacted Lingam to express his
dissatisfaction on the video clip and transcript, Ahmad Fairuz said: "I did not.
Otherwise other slanders would crop up. I did not want to be accused of
persuading him (Lingam) to withdraw the allegations in the video clip. As the
chief justice, I had no reason to contact him."
Meanwhile, Ahmad Fairuz also refuted several sections in the conversation in the
video clip which linked his name. Among others, Ahmad Fairuz denied that he was
former chief justice Tun Eusoff Chin's man.
Ahmad Fairuz also refuted the conversation in the video clip which showed that
the man who was said to be Lingam had told businessman Loh Mui Fah, that he
(Lingam) was speaking to Ahmad Fairuz who was then chief judge of Malaya.
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