The lawyer arrived in a silver Toyota Camry at about 11.55am, with another lawyer and his special assistant.

Lingam was seen asking for directions from several officers before going into an office on the ground floor of Block D6, Complex D in Putrajaya which houses the commission.

The former Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) in now known as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission following a bill passed in parliament on Dec 16.

Initially, reporters thought he had been summoned by the MACC to give a statement. However, Lingam (left) was seen leaving the MACC building about an hour later and when reporters approached him, said he was only there to seek several documents from the agency.

"I cannot divuldge details as to what the documents are about. I just came here to seek them from the agency," he said.

Asked whether he managed to get the documents, Lingam said 'no' and that the agency would probably give them to him later.

To a question on whether he was going to file an appeal following the High Court's decision last month which ruled that the Lingam tape royal commission of inquiry's findings could not be challenged, Lingam said he had already filed a notice of appeal recently.

"I filed the notice recently following the High Court's decision and I am awaiting the notes of the proceedings and the written judgement to file a proper appeal," he said.

Lingam then hurriedly left in his Toyota Camry at about 1 pm.

MACC director of investigation Mohd Sukri Abdul, when met, denied the agency had called Lingam to assist in any sort of investigation.

"In fact, I do not know why he is here. Maybe that you have to ask him," he said.

On Lingam's request for documents pertaining to the Lingam tape affair, Mohd Sukri said Lingam could retrieve documents held by the MACC if they were not being used adding that he would study the lawyer's request.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz, in a written reply in Parliament recently to Wee Choo Keong (PKR- Wangsa Maju), had said that attorney-general's chambers had instructed the police and the then Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to investigate the findings of the Lingam tape royal commission.

"ACA's investigation focused on two things, one of which was the New Zealand vacation which former chief justice Eusoff Chin and Lingam had taken together (below, right) and the other was on the appointment of judges," read Nazri's reply.

"The investigation has finished and the findings have been sent to the AG's chambers for further action and they are currently studying the case," Nazri had said.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court High Court's Special Powers and Appellate division had on Dec 12, meanwhile, ruled that the findings of the royal commission of inquiry into the Lingam clip could not be challenged.

This followed a leave application to seek a judicial review of the findings filed by Lingam, tycoon Vincent Tan, Barisan Nasional and Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and former chief justices Eusoff Chin and Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

The five applicants had sought to quash parts of the commission's report which had implicated them. They claimed that the commission had prejudged the issues before it and lost its focus by going beyond its terms of reference when writing up its findings.

When the royal commission came up with its findings on May 20, the five-member panel led by former Chief Judge of Malaya Haidar Mohd Nor had recommended action be taken by the authorities against six individuals involved, following revelations that the appointment of judges in the country had been 'fixed'.

The commission concluded that there were grounds to investigate the six - including former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad - under the Sedition Act 1961, the Legal Profession Act 1976, the Official Secrets Act 1972 and the Penal Code.

(Mahathir, however, did not file for a review of the findings.)

A total of 21 witnesses had testified before the royal panel, which also received 116 exhibits and 17 statutory declarations.

The commission found that:

• The video clip was authentic;
  
• Lingam was engaged in a phone conversation with Ahmad Fairuz in the presence of businessman Loh Mui Fah and his son Gwo-Burne;
  
• Lingam had direct influence in the elevation of judges, in particular the appointment of Ahmad Fairuz as president of the court of appeal, with the possible aim of his further appointment as chief justice;
  
• Lingam had asked Tan and Tengku Adnan to be involved actively in the appointment of judges, in particular the appointment of Ahmad Fairuz as the chief judge of Malaya and subsequently, president of the court of appeal;
  
• The phone conversation indicated Lingam's 'uncanny knowledge' of what could be considered as matters protected under the Official Secrets Act; and
  
• Tengku Adnan could be Lingam's 'source' in the Prime Minister's Department.

VIDEO l 2 min

SPECIAL REPORT: The Lingam tape