The hearing on Karpal Singh's application for leave from the High Court to compel Chief Justice Zaki Azmi explain his claim that he bribed court clerks when practising as a lawyer has been put off to Wednesday, before the Appellate and Special Powers division in Kuala Lumpur.

This is because Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, who wants to handle the case personally, is overseas, Karpal said when reached today.

NONE The hearing had been fixed for today before Justice Aziah Ali, and was later removed from the list of cases the court would hear today.

"Gani informed me that he wants to bring the case himself, but that he is overseas now. As a result of this, the court has fixed Jan 26 to hear the leave application," Karpal ( right ) added.

Applicants in judicial review cases do not have the automatic right for their cases to be heard unless leave (permission) has been obtained to ensure that the application is not frivolous and vexatious.

Karpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor MP, is seeking an order to compel Zaki to explain his statement of having given bribes and have him brought before the Judges Code of Ethics Tribunal.

He is also seeking a court order in his Jan 12 application that Zaki himself be prevented from determining the merits of the complaint against him.

zaki azmi chief justice installation event 291008 03 In his application, Karpal said Section 5 of the Judges Ethics Committee Act 2009 stipulates that a retired chief justice or retired federal court judge would be the proper authority to hear complaints against Zaki ( left ).

No one, he added, should be a judge in his own case.

This is the latest attempt by Karpal to put pressure on Zaki over a reported admission by the latter that he had bribed court officials when running his legal practice.

Zaki was reported to have said this in his speech at a convention at Kuching in November 2008, where he spoke on Integrity - the Catalyst of Sustainable Development.

Zaki, a former Umno legal adviser, will turn 66, the legal retirement age for judges in Malaysia, in September.

There is wide speculation that his contract would be extended by the government, as was done for former chief justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad.