A lawyer today warned that he may take legal action against a senior member of the Bar Council for allegedly violating the Legal Profession Act during the council's elections last November.

Manjeet Singh Dhillon, himself a council member, claimed that the senior member had admitted during a meeting last month to collecting postal ballots in person and defended his action as legitimate.

According to Manjeet, the ballots should not be collected by any individual but should be posted directly the Malaysian Bar office in Kuala Lumpur.

The Bar Council election is conducted entirely through postal ballots.

Manjeet said the senior member has flouted Section 50 of the Act and warned that if the issue was not addressed at the council's monthly meeting tomorrow, he would resort to legal action to seek an annulment of the election results.

"It is the duty of the council itself to take steps to right what is wrong... by going to the courts and declaring the elections void. And I hope the council will rise to the occasion," he added when contacted.

The lawyer said he would personally raise a motion of no confidence against the senior member.

Audio evidence

Asked if his revelations of the January meeting proceedings infringed the council's policy of non-disclosure, he replied: "Probably, but we should not condone illegalities either."

"We should be preserving the legal profession, and not take this (non-disclosure policy) as an opportunity to sweep dust under the carpet.

"I am not a whistleblower, I am just doing my job," he stressed, adding that the council had an audio recording of its January meeting where the senior member had admitted to personally collecting the ballots.

The issue was raised at the meeting by council member and Johor Bar chairperson Gana Muthusamy.

However when contacted, Gana declined to comment on the proceedings, beyond saying that the issue had come to his attention and that he raised it openly at the meeting.

Despite numerous attempts, the senior member of the council could not be reached for comment.

Ballots for the 2004/2005 election was sent out early November and voting concluded on Nov 30. The new line-up is expected to take office this March.

Manjeet had contested in the last polls but failed to retain a seat in the council. The 36-member council represents the 11,000-strong Malaysian Bar.

Manjeet was the secretary of the Bar Council during the 1988 judiciary crisis and was elected chairperson the next year. He was cited for contempt over his role in the open confrontation between the Bar and the judiciary.