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©Malaysiakini (Used by permission)
by Chua Sue-Ann

Lawyer VK Lingam is attempting to expunge all evidence tendered at the royal commission of inquiry on the New Zealand holiday in 1994 taken together by the lawyer and the former chief justice Eusoff Chin.

Lingam’s lawyer R Thayalan told the commission today that evidence pertaining to the holiday was irrelevant to the scope of the inquiry.

Commission chairperson Haidar Mohamed Noor said the commission needed to think about the request while welcoming submissions from the Bar Council legal representatives and other lawyers on watching brief.

This came as Lingam objected to questions raised by Bar Council lawyer Robert Lazar regarding his closeness to Eusoff.

“At this point, I want my counsel to make a submission,” Lingam said, declining to answer further questions about the 1994 holiday to New Zealand he took with Eusoff.

Last week, Eusoff was repeatedly queried by lawyers for more details on the controversial 1994 trip, which was first made public a few years ago on the Internet.

Eusoff said that he had bumped into Lingam during the holiday and that the lawyer had just tagged along.

Lawyers however claimed that the duo went on the holiday together, indicating the closeness in their relationship.

“Closeness won’t (be useful) to ascertain the authenticity and truth of the video clip,” Thayalan argued.

He added that any issues of closeness raised must be related to the events of 2001, when the video clip was secretly filmed.

“We submit that this testimony is irrelevant and shouldn’t be entertained,” Thayalan said.

Another vacation in question

However, Lazar pointed out that the main point of contention was the line of question he intends to pursue.

“Go further, even the identity of the speaker will be relevant to this issue. The speaker says he is close to Tun Eusoff Chin so it is relevant to establish the identity of the speaker,” Lazar said.

Lazar also quizzed Lingam on a 1995 holiday Lingam took with business tycoon Vincent Tan and then Attorney-general and former chief judge of Malaya Mohamed Mohtar Abdullah.

The inquiry was shown a photograph which Lingam said he “suspects it was in Spain ... around 1995 or 1996.” He added that they had gone to Spain and Morocco at the time.

Lingam told the inquiry that he and Mohtar were friends having met at a neighbourhood event in late 1996. Lingam also said that he had gone to India for a holiday with Tan on two other occasions.

Thayalan also requested that Lingam’s brother Thirunama Karasu’s evidence be excluded from the proceedings on the grounds that the closeness Thirunama wants to demonstrate was not related to the issues of judicial fixing.

The hearing will continue tomorrow afternoon at 2.30pm with submissions being made as to why the evidence of the holiday should be retained.

The later-than-usual start to the commission hearing is to allow all lawyers to prepare their arguments over the issue.

“Thayalan makes it seem like we are contending to something larger. We need to respond to this,” Lazar said, requesting for time to prepare his submissions.

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