Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) was asked to 'rest' until after the Dewan Rakyat’s lunch break at 2.30pm today after he questioned Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia's rejection of his motion over Chief Justice Zaki Azmi.

Karpal had tabled under a motion under Standing Order 18(1) over the refusal of chief justice to entertain his complaints of misconduct against Zaki.

The veteran DAP leader engaged in a verbal battle with Pandikar when he spoke out before the ministerial statement by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz and questioned Pandikar's rejection in chambers of his motion.

However, Pandikar refused to allow Karpal to discuss the matter further, maintaining that Standing Order 36(a) precludes the House from discussing the conduct of a judge in discharging his judicial duties.

NONE After Karpal repeatedly asserted that he was not questioning the judicial conduct of Zaki ( right ) as a judge but as a public figure, Pandikar lost his patience and ordered the parliamentarian to be ejected by the sargeant-at arms to 'rest' and only be allowed back after lunch.

Karpal has doggedly maintained that Zaki had admitted to corrupt practice when he was reported in the New Straits Times on Nov 8 as saying: "It took me six months (as a practising lawyer) to be nice, to bribe each and every individual to get back into their good books before our files were attended to.

“That was my personal experience and I am telling this to all the clerks and all the registries to stop this nonsense.”

Karpal has described Zaki’s subsequent retraction as a lie .

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