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No criminal offence seen, says Gani PDF Print E-mail
Friday, 21 September 2007 07:43am

Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail©New Straits Times (Used by permission)

PUTRAJAYA:
No criminal offence appears to have been committed in a video recording of a telephone conversation between a well-known lawyer and senior judge allegedly discussing appointments to the Bench, the attorney-general said.

Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, however, said he was "getting further opinion on the matter and studying other information in the video clip".

Responding to the video released by Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday, Gani said the lawyer was in a monologue over his mobile phone and it was unclear who he was talking to.

"There is no clear reference that he was talking to a top judicial officer," he said.

Anwar made public the video showing the lawyer purportedly saying he would lobby for the judge's elevation. The video was made in 2002.
Anwar said the video was handed over recently by a source who wanted to remain anonymous.

The clip shows the lawyer talking about how he had helped the judge's appointment to top judicial postings through a prominent businessman and a politician, both of whom were said to be close to the then prime minister.

The lawyer said he was also working to get Tan Sri Mokhtar Abdullah appointed Chief Judge of Malaya and named a number of high-level judges in the video.

Mokhtar, a former attorney-general, was elevated to the Federal Court but went into a coma after a fall in August 2002. He died in 2003.

The video is 14 minutes and 16 seconds long but was edited to eight minutes and 26 seconds to protect the identity of the source.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said the authorities would act on the video clip when an official report was made.

"I have not been briefed or contacted by the judiciary or the attorney-general on the matter. At the moment, I have nothing."

Nazri said the proper procedure would be for any of the parties in the video, or those who may be affected by it, to make a police report.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Lim Kit Siang has called for the judge to be suspended for unethical conduct under Article 125 of the constitution.

He said in a statement that the law allowed the king to appoint a tribunal, upon whose recommendation the judge could be removed from office.

The New Straits Times contacted some of those whose names were mentioned in the video clip.

Former chief justice Tun Dzaiddin Abdullah declined comment.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who was deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department when the video was allegedly made in 2002 and who was referred to a number of times by the lawyer, also refused to comment.

Comments (4)Add Comment
In keeping with the norm!
written by Manjeet Singh Dhillon, September 21, 2007

What a way to begin the morning - reading the various responses. Why is that I am not surprised at the tone, tenor and contents of these responses. The AG is getting 'further opinion' - I wonder from where. There are several acronyms in frequent use in handling such troublesome revelations - 'KUS - Kertas untuk simpanan', 'NFA - No further action' - so take your pick. Wait long enough and the fan-splattered crud dries up and falls off and status quo will resume. Viva la Malaysia - what a difference life here makes!

Manjeet Singh Dhillon

Missing the point!
written by Manjeet Singh Dhillon, September 21, 2007

My earlier posting was more a disappointed gut reaction. On reflection it has dawned that the AG has actually missed the point - why am I not surprised - of the revelations. No one - and least of all me [I know better don't I, AG?] - expected you to rush off and prosecute anyone. A first year law student would be aware of the burden of proof and all the other crud thrown out that warrants a criminal prosecution. No, Mr. AG, it is more than that - it is what is insidiously displayed as being done in that clip - the manipulations, favour-granting, power-grabbing fixing up of things. It is the systematic dismantling of established institutions that ensure the well-being, progress and stability of a nation - ours! Did you miss all that? The nation has a psyche in case you did not know.

Did you actually direct your DPPs to look for offences in that clip? I could have given you an answer in 5 seconds - time it takes to utter one word. But then you wouldn't ask me, would you?

No, Mr. AG, look at the bigger picture. THE BIGGER PICTURE! [See I am shouting!] Look at the circumstances prevailing in Malaysia since the Salleh Abas fiasco [ok, that was before your time], look at what has happened since - the VK Lingham holiday abroad, link it to the personalities, run the tape forward, look at the State of Denmark, dig deeper, ask, inquire, ruminate, reflect, consider the separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary, the role that you, we, all have to play. Is it the tree for the woods or the wood for the trees - see the drift of my posting? - or have I as usual run ahead of you?

The clip, Mr. AG, showed s*** hitting the ceiling fan. And that is not good. Splattered s*** gets everywhere and covers the good, bad and ugly equally. Do I need more parables, allegories, fables to illustrate the point, the drift of where we are going, what is happening to us, as a people and a nation. Or we all so blase, so satiated, so disgusted, so disappointed, so disillusioned that nothing bothers us anymore. Do we, must we, all wait for the crud to dry and fall off? After all smells, even that of a corpse, dissipate over time. Haven't you, Mr. AG, missed the point of it all?

But then Mr. AG you are getting a further opinion. And that is good. Perhaps you will post it on the forum for us to read and review - like this clip.

What a difference a day makes! And why am I not surprised!!

Manjeet Singh Dhillon

Gani Potter and the Sexy Statutory Declaration
written by Fahri Azzat, September 21, 2007

One would have thought that the Attorney General who has vast experience in requesting witnesses to fabricate evidence against an accused (see Zainur Zakaria v PP [2001] 3 CLJ 673) to be able to spot a potential crime when he comes across one. But sadly, as Manjeet has pointed out, the Attorney General has missed it by about 100 million light years (which is close by his standards).

"There is no clear reference that he was talking to a top judicial officer," he said. The Attorney General also probably never heard the phrase 'circumstantial evidence'. That means having to think an actually think and piece the case together unlike most of his prosecutions which end in failure - unless of course, its mitigation. Then the Attorney General rocks! He must possess one of the most outstanding rates of conviction for guilty pleas. I am in awe.

And what does the 'de facto' Minister of Law (what the hell does that really mean? where's the de jure then?) say? '...authorities would act on the video clip when an official report was made.' The Ministers' adherence to fictional procedure when confronted with a national crises is commendable. I am comforted with the thought that if somebody were to broadcast live on national television that they were going to blow up the KL Tower, nothing would happen until somebody actually lodged a police report about it.

In what must be the most honest statement that the Minister has ever made about himself deserves repetition: "I have not been briefed or contacted by the judiciary or the attorney-general on the matter. At the moment, I have nothing." Just to correct you on that, Minister - it isn't just for the moment.

Fahri Azzat

Sounds like sedition to me..........
written by Vicknaraj Thanarajah, September 21, 2007

If the authorities were so quick to jump on the Chinese student and his antics with the Malaysian national anthem, I don't understand why they are not so quick to jump when there is obvious disregard to the separation of powers and judicial independence, as reflected by this video. These are doctrines that are as important if not more important than a National anthem. It is these doctrines that bind and legitimizes our federal constitution together with the rule of law. I am no criminal lawyer, but isn't this sedition.

Vicknaraj Thanarajah


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