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©Malaysiakini
(Used by permission)
by Soon Li Tsin
A former secretary of lawyer VK Lingam stunned the courtroom with explosive
revelations against her ex-boss at the royal commission inquiry today.
In her statutory declaration, GN Jayanthi, 45, said she had stayed until 3am in
Lingam’s office to draft a judgment which eventually became the landmark
decision read by High Court judge Mokhtar Sidin in the Vincent Tan vs MGG Pillai
defamation suit. This, she said, occurred between November and early December
1994.
Lingam was representing Tan, a business tycoon, in the RM10 million suit.
Jayanthi said she ‘vividly remembers’ how Lingam dictated a draft judgment from
some handwritten notes while another staff J Sumanti typed it out.
"Lingam then corrected the pages with red ink. Sumanti then did the corrections
and made a copy of the said judgment in a floppy disk that was to be given to
Mokhtar Sidin.
"I later discovered the judgment written by Lingam was fully incorporated as the
official judgment by the said judge," she said.
She stressed that Lingam was assisted by his brother V Sivaparanjothi, lawyer
Adam Bachek and former Industrial Court chairperson W Satchithanandan that
night.
During questioning by deputy public prosecutor Nordin Hassan, Jayanthi revealed
that she had booked the flight tickets for both Lingam and former chief justice
Eusoff Chin for their infamous New Zealand holiday in late 1994.
She said she had planned the holiday based on handwritten itineraries from the
tour agencies acting for them.
Upon Lingam’s return from the trip, Jayanthi was given three rolls of film from
the vacation to process of which one was never collected by Lingam.
It was these photos as well as the ticket stubs and itineraries that Jayanthi
had passed to senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
'Dangerous and revengeful'
She told the court that Satchithanandan had warned her that Lingam was a
‘dangerous and revengeful person’.
According to Jayanthi, the Penang-based lawyer was unhappy that Lingam (photo)
had recommended former High Court judge KL Rekhraj as a judicial commissioner
and not Satchithanandan.
"Satchi complained to me that Lingam did not keep his word of recommending him
to be appointed as judicial commissioner to the chief justice, despite the fact
that it was he who initially introduced Lingam to the chief justice (Eusoff),"
she said.
Meanwhile, Jayanthi also revealed that the Anti-Corruption Agency had informed
her in 1998 that the corruption investigation concerning Lingam was closed
because ‘too many high profile officials were involved’.
She was also given RM3,000 by ACA which she accepted. She, however, could not
tell the court why the money was given to her.
'Not concerned with corruption'
Throughout the proceedings, commission chairperson Haidar Mohd Noor kept
interrupting Muhammad Shafee from questioning Jayanthi on receipts of flowers
and cakes allegedly sent by Lingam to various judges which was organised by the
former secretary.
"We are not concerned with corruption. We want to see which parties are involved
and we are only investigating into the closeness of the lawyer apparently
brokering appointments with judges," said Haidar.
Before Jayanthi, Lingam’s younger brother V Thirunama Karasu (left) completed
questioning after the commissioners refused his counsel Wee Choo Keong’s request
to ask more questions.
"We have had enough of this. We’ve got more than enough evidence. We can go on
and on about the issue of his insanity until night time. We must stop
somewhere," said Haidar.
Before leaving the stand, Thirunama got the crowd laughing when he thanked the
commissioners and the lawyers for their questions.
"Thank you. Thank you for the questions. Have a nice day," he said.
In another matter, Lingam’s lawyer R Thayalan made an application for
commissioner Prof Dr Khoo Kay Kim to recuse from the panel. The reasons have not
been revealed in open court.
"This means all the commissioners have been asked to recuse (due to connection
to witnesses or lawyers involved in the inquiry)," joked Haidar, adding that
they will look into the matter before the commission resumes tomorrow.
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Circular No 297/2008
No we are not concerned with corruption too! Just that when someone buys another some chocolates and flowers we are to assume they are close, right? Haidar....duh...?
Lim Chong Leong