Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said that he only came to know lawyer VK Lingam recently and denied that he had meetings with the lawyer in the past to discuss the appointment of judges.

He also dismissed claims that prominent businessman Vincent Tan had on several occasions brought Lingam to his house when he was the prime minister.

Mahathir denied having had any meetings with Lingam, Tan or with the former deputy minister in the prime minister's department Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to discuss judicial appointments.

The former premier, the ninth witness of the inquiry's fourth day of hearing, said this in his testimony today to the royal commission of inquiry into the Lingam tape.

When Bar Council's lawyer Christopher Leong pointed out some passages of the Lingam tape which implied that Lingam had occasionally gone to his (Mahathir's) house, the former premier said: “That is not true”.

Leong: Do you know VK Lingam?

Mahathir: I've heard about him in the newspapers involving several cases. I only got to know him recently when I engaged his services in a civil suit filed against me by (former deputy premier) Anwar Ibrahim.

He also said that Lingam has been to his house only after he was no longer the prime minister and after the conversation in the video tape took place.

"After I engaged Lingam (as lawyer) to represent me in the civil suit, then only he (Lingam) has been to my house," he said, adding that he probably spoke to Tan to contact Lingam to get him to act as his legal representative.

He said he chose Lingam as his lawyer because he thought Lingam would be a good candidate and added that Lingam was still his counsel.

Adnan had no access

Answering questions by Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) prosecution chief Nordin Hassan, Mahathir also denied having met former chief justice of Malaya Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim on the appointment of judges.

His statements were contrary to assertions made by Lingam as shown in the video clip which is the subject of the inquiry.

In the clip, Lingam is recorded to be brokering the appointment of 'friendly' judges in a telephone conversation with Ahmad Fairuz.

Lingam had also alleged to have roped in Tengku Adnan and Tan to lobby for Mahathir's approval of the appointments.

Mahathir also denied having received any letter from former chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah which stated that he would discuss the matter with Tengku Adnan and Tan.

To questions on whether Tengku Adnan had access to letters pertaining to the appointment of judges, Mahathir said ministers not directly related to the matter were not usually privy to such documents.

“These documents will be handled by the secretary. In some instances, there may be some officers who have access. I’m not sure if Adnan Mansor had access (to these documents) or not,” said Mahathir.

Tengku Adnan is currently the tourism minister. He denied any wrongdoing in his testimony to the royal commission in the afternoon.

Relationship with Tan

On his relationship with Tan, Mahathir said he had known the businessman for many years.

“I know him very well. We were, how to say, friends.” he said.

Alluding to the conversation in the video clip in which Lingam said he and retired chief justice Eusoff Chin had sent a ‘memo’ to Mahathir to confirm certain judges, Mahathir said he doesn’t remember any specific memorandum on the recommendation of names.

He added, however, that after Eusoff had retired, he had “practically lost contact with him”.

When asked if he had seen the video clip, Mahathir said: “I watched it on TV”.

Earlier, Mahathir was also asked to account for his reasons to appoint or reject candidates as High Court judges.

In a combative mood, Mahathir said that such appointments were his prerogative and that he need not give his reasons (for choosing or rejecting a candidate.

The royal commission of inquiry was established to ascertain, among others, the authenticity of a video clip which featured Lingam allegedly brokering judicial appointments with Ahmad Fairuz.