Ex-CJ wants commissioner disqualified

The royal commission of inquiry into the Lingam tape reconvened today after the Chinese New Year break with a call being made for the recusal of commission member Mahadev Shankar.

The application was made by lawyer Hazman Ahmad, who is representing former chief justice Mohd Eusoff Chin, one of the key witnesses in the inquiry.

However, before Hazman could state his grounds, Mahadev interjected and told him to submit his application in writing.

"Stop there. Put in your written application with all the supporting grounds," Mahadev told Hazman as soon as the lawyer mentioned the commissioner's name.

Hazman retorted that previous applications for recusal of the commission’s members had been heard through an oral application, but Mahadev insisted on a written submission.

Reminding the commissioner that he was merely acting on client’s instruction and not being "personal", the lawyer then relented and said the written application would be submitted later today.

The commission then proceeded to continue hearing testimony from lawyer VK Lingam’s brother, Thirunama Karasu.

Save for commissioner Prof Dr Khoo Kay Kim, applications have been made to recuse the other four members of the panel.

On the first day of the inquiry on Jan 14, applications were made by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim to disqualify commission chief Haidar Mohd Noor (photo), members Steve Shim and Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh due to alleged conflict of interest.

However, the commissioners dismissed all three applications.

Last week, Anwar made another application to disqualify Haidar as it was revealed that the latter is a relative of one of the two star witnesses, former chief justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

The application was again dismissed by Haidar because he saw "no valid ground".

Manoharan ‘need not appear’

At today’s session, the commission ordered new witness M Manoharan to submit his evidence by way of a statutory declaration instead of testifying from the witness stand.

Manoharan, a lawyer, is being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) at the Kamunting detention camp in Perak. He was detained last December for his links with the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), of which he is the legal adviser.

Commission chief Haidar last week had instructed that arrangements be made to produce Manoharan before the inquiry, to testify on claims that he and Thirunama had extorted money from Lingam.

However, Haidar changed his mind today and said there is no necessity to go through the "procedural difficulty", adding that a statutory declaration would suffice.

Mahadev concurred, saying: "This is a sideshow. I am not trying to trivialise it but this is peripheral to the crux of the matter (judge-fixing, based on claims heard in the recorded phone conversation in the video clip)."

Manoharan’s lawyer Karpal Singh argued that the allegation is a serious one and that the commission could try to persuade the internal security minister to exercise its power to allow a detainee to testify, by issuing a subpoena.

‘Highly irregular’ requests

In a related development, commissioner Shim reiterated that the panel stands by its ruling to disallow Anwar and social reform movement Aliran from participating in the inquiry.

He explained at the start of proceedings that the decision was, among others, due to the "highly irregular" requests by Anwar.

This include the opposition politician’s reluctance to put in a full transcript of his testimony despite being ordered to do so by the commission, and that one of the two ‘secret witnesses’ that he offered were only willing to take the stand after Anwar has testified.

"We can’t be seen to treat Anwar any differently. No special treatment should be accorded to him... Instead of assisting, he has been uncooperative," the commissioner noted.

He also said Anwar had cast aspersions on the commission’s integrity by claiming that it was being manipulated by ‘unseen hands’.