The Bar Council has called on the police to seriously investigate allegations of threats made to former key witnesses of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam tape saga.

Expressing shock over the threats made, the council also called for key witnesses who had received such threats to be placed under police protection.

GN jayanthi and Loh Gwo Burne press conference This follows reports of threats received by lawyer VK Lingam's former secretary GN Jayanthi ( left in picture ), Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo Burne ( right ) and Lingam's younger brother, VK Thirunama Karasu.

Jayanthi, who had worked with Lingam, and Loh, who had video recorded the infamous Lingam telephone conversation on matters pertaining to the judiciary, revealed at a press conference yesterday that they suspected the threats might be linked to the revelations they had made during the inquiry.

Jayanthi said she received several threatening text messages from a phone that could have been registered in the United Kingdom.

Loh said he had been receiving such threats in May, and that his service centre had been broken into three times this year alone. Thirunama is said to be in hiding.

lingam tape hearing 300108 vk lingam 02 Jayanthi said her worries have compounded following the murder of V Rajendran, another brother of Lingam ( right ), earlier this month, and the death of Lingam's former driver D Ramachandran in a car accident in May.

Bar Council chairperson Ragunath Kesavan said when contacted by Malaysiakini that the Bar viewed seriously the allegations of threats made to the witnesses in the 2008 inquiry.

"The police must first seriously investigate who are behind the threats and take action against them. A police report has been lodged and it should be investigated."

Threats to witnesses a serious matter

"Secondly, the police should provide adequate protection to these individuals," he said, adding that threats to witnesses were a serious matter.

Ragunath said it was vital that police ensured the safety of witnesses who had already testified.

The Bar Council had participated actively in the 2008 inquiry, having appointed its own lawyers to question the 21 witnesses summoned during the month-long inquiry.

The Royal Commission in its findings recommended that investigations be carried out against six individuals in the alleged judge-fixing scandal.

The six are former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Lingam, tycoon Vincent Tan, Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor and two former chief justices, Eusoff Chin and Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

Five of them, excluding Dr Mahathir, had sought a judicial review of the findings, which the High Court deemed was not challengeable .

However, Lingam, Eusoff and Ahmad Fairuz appealed to the Court of Appeal, which yesterday allowed their appeals and ordered the matter to be reverted back to the High Court to be heard on its merits.

NONE On this, Ragunath ( right ) said the Malaysian Bar was disappointed that the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal.

"The mandate of a Royal Commission of Inquiry entails the production of reports based on findings and recommendations. Hence, in essence, it cannot be a subject of legal challenge since the royal commission is not mandated to make decisions that can fall under the scope of judicial review.

"The court inevitably refused or failed to consider the substantive arguments at the leave stage that the appellants surely had no arguable case," he said.

Ragunath urged the attorney-general to appeal this important question of law before the Federal Court as it would have an impact on the success, effectiveness and credibility of future royal commissions.

"We look forward to the Federal Court making the right decision," he said, adding that the Bar was continuing with its disciplinary proceedings against Lingam.