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Keadilan man quizzed by ACA over video clip

Friday, 28 September 2007 10:21am

©New Straits Times (Used by permission)
by Hamidah Atan

PUTRAJAYA: The Anti-Corruption Agency has begun investigations into a video clip allegedly showing lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam in a conversation over judicial appointments with a top judge.

Yesterday, ACA investigating officers recorded a statement from Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president R. Sivarasa.

Sivarasa, accompanied by his lawyer N. Surendran, was seen entering the ACA head office here about 11.30am and emerging two hours later.

The ACA had wanted to know how the party came to be in possession of the video clip, which it released at a press conference on Sept 19.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president R. Sivarasa (right) with his lawyer, N. Surendran, after his interview at the ACA headquarters in Putrajaya yesterday. “Actually, it is a 14-minute video clip but the remaining part has not been disclosed yet for the sake of our source,” Sivarasa said.

“We have to hide his or her identity. However, if we feel there is a need for it to be exposed for the sake of safeguarding the integrity and credibility of our judiciary, we will do so.”

Another Keadilan member, Sim Tze Tzim, will also have his statement recorded .

Last Thursday, two former United Nations appointees lodged a report with the ACA against a judge over allegations of impropriety in the judiciary contained in an anonymous letter and the video recording.

On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the appointment of a three-man independent panel to probe the authenticity of the video clip.