Former Singapore judge GP Selvam had “misled” the chief justice in his communications over the case of the plagiarist judge, said Karpal Singh.

“I am shocked by the statement by retired Singapore judge GP Selvam, in a letter dated Nov 2 to the chief justice, Arifin Zakaria, that there was no cause to complain about the plagiarism against a Malaysian judge.

NONE “...There is no doubt Selvam’s letter ... does not contain the truth. I am shocked that a retired judge is prepared to lie,” said the DAP national chairperson in a statement today.

Karpal challenged Selvam to deny statements attributed to the judge in the media in 2000 over the matter.

“The Straits Times (Singapore) report on March 18, 2000 quoted GP Selvam as accusing the Malaysian judge of having obtained a copy of h is (Selvam’s) judgement through a lawyer and ‘having copied chinks from me without acknowledging’.

“Selvam was also quoted to have said the Malaysian judge backdated his judgement so that the people ‘will think I copied from him!’,” said Karpal.

The veteran lawyer also cited New Straits Times ’ report on the same day quoting then Malaysian chief justice Eusoff Chin, “as having written to his Singapore counterpart, Yong Pung How, asking for more information on the alleged plagiarism”.

‘Set up RCI’

Pointing out that comparing the judgements of Selvam and the alleged copycat judge Abdul Malik Ishak would not reflect the plagiarism as the act took place in Abdul Malik’s draft judgement, taken from Selvam’s draft.

“With Selvam’s protests over the plagiarism Abdul Malik Ishak obviously removed the chunks taken from the judgement from GP Selvam,” Karpal added.

Calling the incident “serious misconduct” that has “soiled” the judiciary, the lawyer wants a royal commission of inquiry into the matter to “get to the truth”.