Karpal: Lingam should be charged for sedition, at least

Veteran parliamentarian and senior lawyer and Gelugor MP Karpal Singh (left) demanded today that lawyer VK Lingam should at least be charged for sedition even if his alleged connection to the brokering of judges has been closed with no further action.

Karpal, who was debating the Judges Ethics Committee bill, said that despite clear evidence showing the prominent lawyer engaging in a phone conversation with former top judge Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and brokering the appointment of judges, he was let off.

"Is Lingam under the protection of (former Prime Minister) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad)... (and even if he is), the AG (attorney-general) should be brave enough to take action against anyone," said Karpal in the House.

"Even the King can be brought to court... the AG has to be take action at least under the Sedition Act, as he (Lingam) had brought the judiciary to disrepute," said Karpal.

"That 'celaka' (wretched man) should be taken to court," he added.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry was conducted in 2008 into the case in which a video purportedly showing the lawyer speaking on the phone to a top judicial officer was the subject of investigation.

Five others implicated

Lingam's conversation on the video recording also implicated five people, including Lingam, former chief justices Eusoff Chin and Ahmad Fairuz, business tycoon Vincent Tan and the then Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor who was in charge of legal affairs.

The closure of the case was given in a written reply to Bagan DAP parliamentarian Lim Guan Eng, who asked why no action had been taken on the recommendation of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the alleged brokering of judges which had made judicial independence a mockery and a humiliation to the country.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said in the reply that the probe revealed no criminal offence had been committed in the appointment of judges.

Nazri said that the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), which is now known as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), had come to the conclusion that there was "no abuse of power" after investigating those involved in the video clip.

"The Attorney-General (A-G) has decided that no further action is needed," Nazri had said.

Following the finding of the royal commission, four investigation papers were opened, three were sent for review to the AG's Chamber's, while one was still being investigated by the MACC.

Two of the documents were dismissed much earlier as it lacked proof, while the other was still being investigated, which has also now been classified as "no further action".

Anwar: 1Malaysia, 2 Laws

Meanwhile, other Pakatan parliamentarians were dejected with the commitment of the government to reform the judiciary after the VK Lingam matter was dismissed "with no further action".

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said the government was wrong in letting Lingam off the hook.

He said this simply showed the government's lack of political will to reform the judiciary.

"When you ask the Attorney-General, he says there is no case (against Lingam) and there is no evidence... it is clear that Lingam is an almighty lawyer," he said sarcastically.

"That's why people say if you want to win a case, don't deliberate on the point of law that is involved but take into consideration the lawyer (you appoint) and judge (who presides over the case)," he said.

Anwar also mocked Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's '1Malaysia' concept by saying:

"Our country is clearly '1Malaysia, Two Laws' (where) one law is for the masses and another law is for the rich and their cronies," he said.

'No political will'

Meanwhile PKR parliamentarian-cum-lawyer R Sivarasa said he found it hard to belief that the case against Lingam has been closed.

"I still remember the day I was watching the video when I first received it and realised what has been actually going on in our judiciary," said the Subang MP.

"These guys were fixing judicial appointments and they were not ordinary people - you had top political leaders in country working with crony tycoons, working with corrupt lawyers, it was all there in front of our eyes," he said.

Sivarasa (left) explained that the key issue addressed in the royal commission's finding was the integrity of the then ACA.

"The report is saying that the very ACA itself - the way the ACA investigated the issues which was brought to them in 1998 - was not credible," he said.

Moreover, Sivarasa said that testimonies by Lingam's former secretary Jayanthi Govindarajulu Naidu and Lingam's estranged brother K Thirunama Karasu, were found to be credible by the royal commission as the cross-examination failed to break them.

"This shocking is because the prime minister can stand and say that the legal department of the ACA says there is no case and no need to refer to the AG... he doesn't seem to understand (or) he doesn't want to see the real problem or just doesn't understand the simple language of a report.

"The royal commission had concluded in the report that the whole process needed to be reopened and probably entrusted to a more credible agency but the prime minister is just ignoring it," said Sivarasa.

"What you see is very clear. There is absolutely no political will to deal with the problem and it is staring at us in the face... he is not prepared to deal with the issues and just wants to push it under the carpet," he added.

'This is the way they want it to be'

Shah Alam PAS MP Khalid Samad similarly said that the inaction only reflected the government's seriousness in tackling judicial reforms.

"The voice recording and video tape of the whole discussion is clear indication that the appointment of judges were clearly influenced by individuals who were not credible themselves and obviously had vested interest," said Khalid (right) .

"This basically puts an end to the mirage of any attempt to rectify the independence of the judiciary

to indicate that the government is serious about appointing judges based on their independence. To me it is like a admission that it is OK," he said.

"The issue has never been whether it was criminal or otherwise it has always been that this clear indication that the judiciary is not independent and is decided by various lobbies and interest groups and I think that is very unfortunate," he said.

This just proves that nothing has changed and nothing will change unless the administration is changed, said Khalid.