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KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 (Bernama) -- Lawyer Datuk V. K. Lingam was not drunk or intoxicated when he spoke on the telephone allegedly brokering the appointment of judges, the Royal Commission of Inquiry heard Monday.

Loh Gwo Burne, a 34-year-old consultant, said there were "drinks" taken but he was of the opinion that not much drinks were consumed on that evening in late December 2001 in Lingam's house in Kelana Jaya.

"I don't think that even by the end of the night, Lingam was drunk," the 12th witness said in the inquiry which entered its 6th day today.

To a question by his counsel, Alex De Silva, on whether Lingam was "staging" it, Gwo Burne said: "No, sometimes I could hear a male voice on the other side (of the telephone)" but he could not hear what the person on the other end was saying.

The video clip was played once again in the proceedings. After watching the video clip, conducting officer Datuk Nordin Hassan asked Gwo Burne whether the contents of the clip were the same as the one he had recorded, to which he said: "Yes I believe so".

To a question by De Silva, Gwo Burne said he did not interfere with, edit or doctor the contents of the 14-minute video recording when transferring the data from the memory card to the computer and from the computer to his laptop.

"In my memory, the video clip is the recording that I took in 2001," he said.

Gwo Burne earlier told the inquiry that he and his father, Loh Mui Fah went to Lingam's house that night as they were invited for dinner and also to discuss some of their legal matters with Lingam, who was their counsel.

He said he took his Sony 707 camera along because he wanted to try it out as it was a new camera with a recording function.

Gwo Burne admitted that the recording of Lingam's conversation as well as the conversation between his (gwo Burne's) father and Lingam after Lingam finished speaking on the telephone was made by him at Lingam's house without his father's knowledge.

He said that initally he was taking photographs of a vase but half-way through, it was switched to the video recording mode. He then decided to continue recording because he was bored and fed up with Lingam because Lingam was always talking on the phone.

Gwo Burne said Lingam was constantly attending to other matters and talking on the telephone.

Lingam went out to buy wine, talked to his (Lingam's ) sister who was also present during the dinner and when Lingam finally had the time to sit down to discuss their legal matters with them, he was on the telephone again, he said.

To a question by Nordin on whether Lingam was aware that he was recording the telephone conversation, he said: "I do not believe so".

Lingam made a brief appearance at the hearing today when he was called for identification by the witness.

Gwo Burne identified him as the man who was speaking on the telephone in 2001.

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