A former Chief Judge of Malaya will head a three-member independent panel to probe and determine the authenticity of the VK Lingam video clip, said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today.

The government has appointed Haidar Mohd Noor ( photo ) to look into the eight-minute edited video that showed senior lawyer VK Lingam talking on the phone, apparently brokering the appointment of judges with Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

National Service Council chairperson Lee Lam Thye and former Court of Appeal Judge Mahadev Shankar are the other two members of the panel. Both were also former commissioners of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia.

Haidar retired from his position in 2004 and is currently the Bumiputra-Commerce Bank chairperson.

Najib's announcement comes after pressure from opposition and rights groups for an investigation into the issue and ahead of a planned rare protest march by lawyers tomorrow.

He said that the three panel members had accepted their appointments and would soon start investigating the matter with the support and cooperation of all agencies concerned.

"This decision was made as the allegations and speculations on the video clip can arouse doubts on the credibility and integrity of the country's judicial system," he told a press conference this morning in Putrajaya.

Their findings, expected to be known in a few weeks, would be made public later, he added.

To a question if the people implicated in the video would be called up by the panel, Najib said the panel would do whatever necessary.

No royal commission

He also reiterated the government's stand that a royal commission of inquiry would not be set up to investigate the matter.

He added that the government felt the three-member panel was sufficient to look into the matter.

Previously many quarters, including opposition parties and the Bar Council, had urged the government to set up a royal commission of inquiry to look into the state of the judiciary in light of this latest scandal.

The Bar Council is planning a march from the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya to the Prime Minister's Department tomorrow morning to submit a memorandum to demand the setting up of a commission of inquiry.

When asked to comment on the Bar Council's decision to stage the protest march, Najib said it was up to the Bar Council and the authorities to decide on such actions.

Last week Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi himself had ruled out the setting up on such a commission, stating that a police investigation on the matter was sufficient.

De facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz had issued a denial on behalf of Ahmad Fairuz in relation to the explosive 'Lingam tape' revelations on Sunday.

However Ahmad Fairuz, who was the Chief Judge of Malaya in 2002 when the recording was said to have been made, has remained silent on the issue. He had issued a two-paragraph 'No comment' statement to Malaysiakini last Friday.

SPECIAL REPORT: The Lingam tape