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©New Straits Times (Used by permission)
by V. Anbalagan

KUALA LUMPUR: The Anti-Corruption Agency is sending the video clip of a lawyer purportedly in conversation with a top judge about judicial appointments, to experts in Hong Kong.

A reputable institution there will examine the video clip to determine its authenticity.

Sources said two ACA officers would head for the island in the next few days to hand over the video clip and other supporting documents to the organisation for analysis.

The institution was recommended to the ACA by the Independent Commission for Anti-Corruption in Hong Kong.

The analysis is expected to be completed by the end of the month.

“We will personally hand over the video clip and documents and collect them when the analysis is done to ensure the chain of evidence is not broken,” the sources said.

The ACA is rushing to get the video clip analysed because the agency is to brief the three-man independent panel on Oct 29 on whether the contents in the tape were doctored.

The panel, chaired by former chief judge of Malaya Tan Sri Haidar Mohamad Noor, was established to determine the authenticity of the video clip and has been tentatively given until Nov 8 to submit its findings to the government.

Sources said the ACA had earlier approached the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to analyse the video clip after the panel was set up on Sept 26, but the US organisation declined since it was not part of evidence involving a violent crime.

The analysis would include whether the image of the lawyer in the video clip was doctored or not, a voice comparison of the lawyer and whether the identity of the person the lawyer is talking to could be ascertained.

“The experts will attempt to enhance the voice of the person on the other end of the line with sophisticated equipment and technology,” the sources added.

The eight-minute video footage which was released on Sept 18 has since been widely circulated on the Internet.

ACA deputy director-general Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed confirmed that the video clip would be sent overseas for analysis but declined to elaborate.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said the independent panel would have to depend on ACA investigations if no one volunteers to provide information on the authenticity of the video clip.

“The panel does not have the power to investigate unless it gets the consent of the attorney-general.”

He said this in response to news reports that not a single person had approached the panel’s secretariat to shed light into the authenticity of the tape

“We should not dismiss the panel. They should be given a chance to carry out their task and produce a report.”

Nazri, however, expressed hope that those with personal knowledge about the video clip would come forward as the panel was set up to “get to the bottom of the matter".

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