"DAP talks so much about credibility, Now that a DAP candidate has serious credibility problem, how will the party defend its credibility?".

chan kong choy This was posed by MCA deputy president Chan Kong Choy at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

His poser was on the case of lawyer Keshvinder Singh Kashmir Singh, DAP candidate for Malim Nawar - a state seat in Perak - who was reported to have been penalised by the Bar Council over a land deal.

The Star reported today that Keshvinder was fined RM10,000 by the Malaysian Bar disciplinary board over a land tenancy agreement.

Checks with the Bar's website showed that Keshvinder was fined on Nov 17 under Section 103D of the Legal Profession Act 1976. Further checks on the site showed that he also had not renewed his Practising Certificate by March 8, 2006.

Clerk blamed

The paper also reported that the Keshvinder has blamed his legal clerk over the fine.

"My clerk is paying for the fine now and it was a mistake made by her," he said yesterday.

Keshvinder claimed he was fined in 2007 over the tenancy agreement which was prepared without his knowledge.

"My clerk prepared the documents without my knowledge, stamped and signed them on my behalf," he said.

According to the Malaysian Bar website, Keshvinder, who carries the membership number of K505, was fined RM10,000 pursuant to disciplinary orders made from October to December 2007.

keshvinder singh The fine was the heaviest imposed on those listed.

Keshvinder ( left ) said his clients complained about the matter to the Malaysian Bar which resulted in him being fined.

He said the tenancy agreement had to do with a piece of oil palm land which was planted with oil palm trees and the beneficiaries of the land wanted to stop renting the land.

"After I came to know of the complaint, I cancelled the agreement after a month. There was no monetary loss," he explained.

Personal attack

Meanwhile, the embattled lawyer also issued a statement today on why he did not renew his practising certificate (PC) by March 2006.

"The reason for this delay in renewing my PC was because my office in Ampang, Selangor, was broken into and my documents pertaining to the PC renewal application were missing," he said, adding that a police report was lodged in Ampang.

"Since then, all my PCs has been approved by the Bar Council with the latest being for the period of Jan 2008-Dec 2008."

Keshvinder decribed the Star report as "a personal attack on my character".

Probably unaware of Keshvinder’s explanation today, the MCA deputy president said DAP leaders like Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng must apologise to the electorate for choosing a ‘wrong’ candidate.

"This Kesvinder case is now showing the true colour of DAP and the hype of its leaders over credibility," Chan said.

"Now, where is their credibility? DAP has some explaining to do," he added.