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• BPR mula siasat klip video kontroversi

©New Straits Times (Used by permission)
by Azura Abas and Ranjeetha Pakiam

Read also judgments in previous disciplinary proceedings:
• Malaysian Bar v. Dato' Kanagalingam Veluppillai 2004 [FC] (PS Gill FCJ , Rahmah Hussain FCJ, Hashim Yusoff JCA)
• Dato' Kanagalingam Velupillai v Majlis Peguam & Anor 2004 [HC] (Azmel Maamor J)
• Bar Council v Datuk V Kanagalingam 2000 [FC] (Chong Siew Fai, CJSS)
• Majlis Peguam lwn. V Kanagalingam 1998 [HC] (Arifin Jaka, T Selventhiranathan, Hashim Yusoff)

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk V.K. Lingam, the lawyer allegedly captured on video discussing judicial appointments with a senior judge, declined comment when contacted yesterday.

"I am travelling. I don't want to comment. When I am ready. I will issue a statement," he told Berita Harian in a brief conversation yesterday.

The Anti-Corruption Agency has started its investigation into the controversial video clip, which has been posted on the Internet since Sept 19.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said the ACA was aiding the three-man independent panel formed to probe the video recording.

"The result of the investigation will determine the next course of action, which will be decided by the cabinet," he said at the ACA's 40th anniversary commemoration.

Also present were ACA director-general Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan, deputy director-general (I) Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed and deputy director-general (II) Datuk Zakaria Jaffar.

Asked who had been called in for questioning, Nazri said he had not been informed.

"I don't know. The panel is conducting the investigation independently with help from the ACA."

On whether Lingam had been reached by the ACA, Abu Kassim declined comment.

It is believed the lawyer has been abroad for the past month and messages have been left at his firm and home asking him to get in touch with ACA officers upon his return.

Meanwhile, the legal profession's disciplinary board will meet on Oct 19 to discuss the action to be taken against Lingam.

Its chairman Tan Sri Khalid Ahmad Sulaiman said a Bar Council report on the allegations against Linggam would be discussed at the next board meeting.

"The disciplinary board has received the complaint from the Bar Council and I have studied the matter.

"A decision will be reached at our next meeting and we will proceed from there," he told the New Straits Times yesterday.

Bar Council vice-president Ragunath Kesavan said the matter now lay with the disciplinary board set up under the Legal Profession Act 1976.

He said the board could issue a show-cause letter to the respondent for an explanation. The board could then set up a disciplinary committee to hear the case, which will then forward its recommendations.

Those found guilty of misconduct under Section 103 of the Act could be fined, suspended or struck off the rolls.

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