The Bar Council has filed an appeal against the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board's decision that cleared senior lawyer Cecil Abraham of misconduct in the drafting of the second statutory declaration (SD) of late private investigator P Balasubramaniam.

Its chairperson Steven Thiru confirmed this when contacted by Malaysiakini .

"I can confirm that the Bar Council has filed an appeal with the High Court against the decision of the disciplinary board in the Tan Sri Cecil Abraham's matter," Thiru said in a short reply.

Earlier today, it was reported that the decision was delivered two weeks ago, with the disciplinary committee conducting the inquiry and the board clearing Cecil.

This was confirmed by lawyer Gene Anand Vendargon, who along with Bastian Vendargon, appeared for the Bar Council.

It is understood that during the inquiry Cecil produced his own statutory declaration denying he was involved in the drafting of Balasubramaniam's second SD.

A total of 15 witnesses testified in the disciplinary committee proceedings held before a three-member panel chaired by lawyer KY Foo.

However, the witnesses did not include controversial carpet businessperson Deepak Jaikishian, who avoided receiving the subpoena.

This is despite Deepak having admitted to playing a role in the second SD for Balasubramaniam in separate interviews with Harakah and Malaysiakini .