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Fresh bid to have inquiry panel recused themselves |
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Tuesday, 12 February 2008 11:55pm |
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©Bernama
(Used by permission)
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- Attempts were made today to have two other
members of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into a controversial video clip,
disqualified themselves.
With the fresh bid, all five members of the panel have been asked not to conduct
the inquiry although the commission itself has dismissed previous applications
against three of them.
One of the two applications submitted today was made by former chief justice Tun
Eusoff Chin through counsel Datuk Hazman Ahmad, and the panel member he wanted
to step down was Datuk Mahadev Shankar.
The other was by lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam who has been identified as the person
in the video clip talking on a phone about judicial appointments.
Through counsel R. Thayalan, he sought for Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Khim
to recuse himself from the inquiry.
This prompted commission chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor to exclaim: "So
now all of us are under recusal!"
Other panel members are Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong and Puan Sri Zaitun Zawiyah
Puteh.
The commission was set up, among others, to ascertain the authenticity of the
video clip and recommend any appropriate action on the persons identified or
mentioned in the clip.
On the first day of inquiry on Jan 14, it rejected an application by lawyer M.
Puravelan who represented Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
to have Haidar, Shim and Zaitun recused from the proceedings.
Puravalen said Haidar should disqualify himself because he was a co-trustee of
the Perdana Foundation together with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohamad and businessman Tan Sri Vincent Tan who had been subpoenaed to testify
in the inquiry.
He said Haidar and Shim were also involved in the judgement of Raphael Pura vs
Insas Bhd & Another which addressed the issue of corruption in the judiciary at
trial stage.
In that case, a party attempted to adduce a photograph of Lingam holidaying with
Eusoff Chin. This particular issue has been raised in the present inquiry.
Puravalen also wanted Shim to recuse himself because his name was mentioned in
the video clip and Zawiyah because she handled a civil suit between Anwar and Dr
Mahathir.
On Feb 5, Karpal Singh who also represented Anwar and lawyer M. Manoharan,
applied to have Haidar recused himself on the ground that he was related by
marriage to former chief justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz who is implicated in the video
clip.
He said Haidar's younger sister was married to Ahmad Fairuz's elder brother and
therefore, Haidar should not sit in the panel. Haidar did not deny the
relationship but stressed that the tie ended when Ahmad Fairuz's brother died in
1973.
Both Eusoff and Lingam have submitted their written applications to have Mahadev
and Dr Khoo disqualified themselves.
This follows a ruling that new applications must be made in writing with the
inclusion of all allegations of facts and by way of direct evidence.
Mahadev said that if the applicants wanted to include hearsay evidence in their
recusal applications, the source of the information should be included.
He added that such application was not privilege and applicants must take full
responsibility of what they say in their recusal applications.
Reporters have been barred from publishing the contents of the applications
until the commission has heard submissions by the counsel involved.
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