Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad failed to make it to the royal commission tasked to investigate the VK Lingam tape today leaving the press crops disappointed.

Mahathir’s testimony was postponed to tomorrow as the commission had to wrap up its hearing today of a number of other witnesses including former chief secretary to the government Samsudin Osman.

Deputy public prosecutor Azmi Ariffin was coy when asked about tomorrow’s witnesses at the end of the commission’s third day of public hearing.

He said with a smile that three witnesses are due to appear tomorrow without naming them.

But when pressed by journalists, he said that Mahathir will be first to be questioned tomorrow.

He will be followed by former chief justice Eusoff Chin and Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

Mahathir’s aide Sufi Yusof told Malaysiakini that the former premier is expected to go before the commission at 10am tomorrow.

An unusually high number of journalists and members of the public turned up this morning in anticipation of Mahathir’s appearance.

Most were left disappointed when they were unable to get a seat in the packed courtroom. Journalists were told later in the afternoon that Mahathir would not be showing up.

Mahathir’s name was mentioned several times in the video in which lawyer VK Lingam was apparently brokering the appointment of judges with then chief judge of Malaya Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

In the 14-minute video, Mahathir was alluded to have met and corresponded with various personalities including Ahmad Fairuz, the then deputy minister in the PM’s Department Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and business tycoon Vincent Tan over the selection of ‘friendly’ judges.

Mahathir, 82, has a working relationship with Lingam, as the latter represents him in a defamation suit filed by former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

Video-clip man in town

Meanwhile, the royal commission was told that Loh Gwo Burne, the person who recorded the video clip seven years ago, is back in Malaysia.

Loh, 33, is currently working for a foreign company in Shanghai, China.

According to Loh’s lawyer Alex De Silva, his client has arrived in Kuala Lumpur and is ready to testify.

“My client has instructed me to inform the commission that he is able and willing to testify but he is not here today because he is not feeling well.”

An avid photographer, Loh used a high-end digital camera to take the footage of the infamous conversation between Lingam and former chief justice Ahmad Fairuz.

Loh’s father Mui Fah ( photo ) had yesterday told the inquiry that the recording was made without his knowledge when both of them were at Lingam’s house for dinner on Dec 20, 2001.

Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Nordin Hassan said that he has yet to decide on when Loh would be called to testify.

“We will need to study his statement first before deciding when to call him but it will as soon as possible,” he told the commission.

It is also unclear when the PKR de facto leader Anwar, who made public the video-clip last year, will be giving his testimony.

Anwar is scheduled to appear for questioning together with his political coordinator Sim Tze Tzin and party vice-president R Sivarasa.

Given the latest development in the inquiry, the commission may not even need to call the PKR trio to testify.