No charges in sensational judicial corruption case

The government has said it will not prosecute a lawyer who featured in a sensational video where he appeared to broker judges' appointments.

The footage of lawyer VK Lingam, released by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in 2007, unleashed a furore in Malaysia and cast a shadow over the reputation of the judiciary.

But Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz told Parliament on Wednesday that no legal action would be taken because an official probe into the affair had failed to turn up sufficient evidence or proper testimony.

"After (the anti-corruption authorities) investigated those involved in the Lingam tape, there was no evidence to show a criminal offence was committed in relation to abuse of power in the appointment of judges," he said.

"Therefore the attorney-general's chambers decided there was no further action required," he said in a written reply to a question posed by the opposition.

At a 2008 royal commission into the video, Lingam said he was too drunk to remember the telephone conversation in which he appeared to discuss judicial appointments.

"My home is my castle and I can talk whatever rubbish I want in my house," he said at the time.

'Cannot recollect'

"I must have had too many drinks, I do not know what I said. Now I cannot recollect," he said, denying he had ever tried to influence the selection of judges.

In the phone call Lingam purportedly assured Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, who was then a judge, that he would push him for a top position, with the help of a prominent businessman and a politician.

Ahmad Fairuz went on to be appointed to the nation's number-two post and was quickly elevated to the top position of chief justice. He completed his term and stood down in 2007.

The former chief justice told the inquiry the video was a "fabrication" and a slander.

The maker of the video clip, Loh Gwo Burne, a businessman who subsequently became an opposition legislator, told the inquiry the conversation was recorded when he went to Lingam's house to discuss a legal matter.

Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was in power at the time the Lingam video was made, also denied he was ever influenced by other parties when appointing judges, and that he alone made the selections.

The royal commission had recommended that Mahathir and five others, including Lingam, be investigated under various laws for their role in the appointment of judges.

Others on the list were former chief justices Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Eusoff Chin, Umno secretary-general and former minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and business tycoon Vincent Tan.

- AFP