©The
Sun (Used by permission)
by Husna Yusop
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 6, 2008) : The government paid out a total RM10.5 million in
ex–gratia to six former judges who were "sacked" in the 1988 judicial crisis,
including RM5 million to former Lord President Tun Salleh Abas.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz, who
revealed the quantum of ex–gratia payout, said Supreme Court judges the late Tan
Sri Wan Suleiman Pawan Teh and George Edward Seah Kim Seng were paid RM2 million
each.
Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohd Salleh, Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin and the late Tan Sri
Eusoffe Abdolcadeer were paid RM500,000 each, Nazri told the Dewan Rakyat in his
winding–up speech on Budget 2009 today.
At the same time, he said they were also paid pension and gratuity for the past
20 years with Salleh receiving RM5,102.16 monthly, Wan Hamzah RM6,508.59, Seah
and Azmi RM5,916.90 each and Wan Suleiman and Eusoffe RM4,815 each.
Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Ind–Pasir Mas) then asked for the reason for their
compensation as it has created a perception that the government under the
previous Prime Minister has been wrong in making its decision.
N.Gobalakrishnan (PKR–Padang Serai) also interjected, asking whether the RM5
million was adequate for someone in a very high position like Salleh, who has
suffered a lot from the decision, while the government could spend much more for
other projects.
Nazri said the payment was not an admission of guilt on the part of the
government, quoting a statement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi in April when announcing the decision to pay ex–gratia to the former
judges.
He said the case involved the question of one’s honour and dignity, therefore no
one could actually put a price to it.
Mahfuz Omar (PAS–Pokok Sena) then asked why were the judges granted with both
pension and ex–gratia since they have been sacked from their service, adding to
clear their honour and dignity the government should have set up another
tribunal to clear them from the actions taken against them.
Nazri said they were found guilty by a panel of tribunal and they were asked to
take early retirement , "not sacked".
"They were not sacked. They were asked to retire early. It’s like optional. At
66, you can (receive) pension. Since they chose to retire, the pension was paid.
The Pension Department would not pay (pension) if they had broken any laws.
"They did not break any laws. So, the pension was paid. They took early
retirement, so the pension was on," he explained.
Wee Choo Keong (PKR–Wangsa Maju) said: "All this while, I thought the six were
sacked because all the newspapers had reported it as such. I don’t understand
what the minister is saying.
"They were not sacked but asked to retire early? That’s not correct. They were
in fact dismissed by the tribunal. The tribunal cannot ask them to retire early.
"The setting up of the tribunal was to sack them, not to ask them to take early
retirement. Please don’t fool us. Since they also received pension, the RM5
million is considered too high."
Nazri said the panel was not set up to sack them but to look at the case and
decide on a judgment.
"To sack is a judgment. To recommend early retirement is a judgment," he said,
adding newspaper reports cannot be quoted as reliable sources for valid
information.
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Former Judges got RM10.5m ex–gratia
6 Nov 2008 12:00 am