Ranging from using rude words to wanting to ‘hammer’ his wife, VK Lingam’s former driver D Ramachandran revealed that his ex-boss’ attitude was the reason why he quit his job.

On the last day of the royal commission, the inquiry heard testimonial from Ramachandran, 58, who worked for Lingam for six years between March 1995 to September 2001.

During questioning from his current employer and listed witness Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Ramachandran said he had quit because Lingam was always rude to him.

"I’m older than him by three years but the words he used is so disrespectful to me. He called me in Tamil very rudely to ‘ podah ’ (‘get lost’)," he said.

Ramachandran also revealed an incident where Lingam and his wife Dr Paramjothy were having an argument and he was used as a human shield.

"He was on the verge of hammering her. She went behind me and I had to defend her. I told him, "Dato, please stop. The neighbours are looking’."

"It was this that made me make up my mind to quit this job," he said.

lingam tape hearing 300108 vk lingam 01 In his statutory declaration, Ramachandran said he dropped off his employer at former chief justice Eusoff Chin’s house in Taman University twice between 8.30pm to 9.30pm in 1996 and 1997.

However, Lingam’s lawyer R Thayalan tried to question Ramachandran’s credibility by saying he had been fired from his job for allegedly stealing petrol.

However, Ramachandran denied any misconduct and reiterated that he had resigned because he was treated poorly by Lingam.

Ramachandran also admitted to the court that he did not inform Shafee that Lingam was his former boss for fear that he might not be hired.

Ex-secretary quizzed again

Before Ramachandran was questioned, Lingam’s former secretary G Jayanthi, 45, was quizzed by Thayalan over her testimony two days ago.

Thayalan disputed that a draft judgment for the Vincent Tan vs MGG Pillai defamation suit could not have been made between November and early December 1994 because High Court judge Mokhtar Sidin had already made his oral judgment in October 1994.

vk lingam royal commission 120208 jayanthi According to Jayanthi, she had stayed until 3am in Lingam’s office to draft a judgment which eventually became the landmark decision where Pillai was ordered to pay Tan, a business tycoon, RM10 million in damages.

She had said Lingam, who was Tan’s lawyer in that case, was assisted by his brother V Sivaparanjothi, lawyer Adam Bachek and former Industrial Court chairperson W Satchithanandan that night.

Ranjit Singh representing the Malaysian Bar proceeded to ask if she had arranged any meetings, functions or dinner for Lingam with Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and former chief justices Eusoff Chin and Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

At first commission chairperson Haidar Mohd Noor objected and questioned the relevance of this query which was supported by Chin’s lawyer Hazman Ahmad.

Ranjit justified that this is important to disprove that Lingam only had a limited relationship with them.

"Tengku Adnan and Eusoff Chin have all said they had limited contact with Lingam. Maybe she has organised things that may prove the contrary," he said.

Hazman continued to object to the question but was told by commissioner Mahadev Shanker that the establishment of any contact is to the inquiry’s interest.

Haidar proceeded to allow Ranjit’s question resulting in a rousing applause in the packed Kuala Lumpur High courtroom.

Hazman then objected to the public’s move in clapping and this prompted Haidar to remark: "Please don’t do that. Don’t treat this like a circus."

Jayanthi then replied that Eusoff and Tengku Adnan used to call Lingam’s office on his direct line.

ACA offer issues denial

Meanwhile, the former secretary was also quizzed by Deputy Public Prosecutor Nordin Hassan if she has proof to substantiate her claim that the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) paid her RM3,000 in 1998 after the watchdog informed her that the case against Lingam had been closed.

On Monday, Jayanthi told the commission that ACA officer Wong Chee Kong had informed her that the case was closed because there were ‘too many high-ranking government officials involved’.

Responding to Nordin, Jayanthi said: "Wong gave me a voucher to sign, so I signed it and gave it back to him."

In a statutory declaration today, Wong denied telling Jayanthi that the case was closed and that he had offered her money.

Psychiatrist cross examined

The proceedings concluded with the cross examination of consultant psychiatrist M Mahadevan, 78, who had previously treated Lingam’s brother and inquiry witness, V Thirunama Karasu.

lingam tape commission enquiry 120208 mahadevan According to Mahadevan, he met Thirunama in 1995 when the latter was hired to fix some wiring in his house.

Thirunama had alleged that Lingam forced him to see Mahadevan and pretend to be mentally ill. He also said the psychiatrist coached him to write a false patient statement.

During questioning, the retired psychiatrist said that it is possible for a perfectly sane person to pretend to have a problem.

When Mahadev asked him whether Thirunama’s psychiatric session bill was paid, Mahadevan replied in the negative.

"Nobody paid me. Since I started my profession, money has never been my concern," he added.

The commission ended its inquiry today after being extended for an additional three weeks. It is due to submit their report to the King on March 11.