The Judicial Appointments Committee (JAC) must explain if the repeated stalling of a senior Court of Appeal judge's promotion is a case of the now infamous former Chief Judge Eusoff Chin exacting his vengeance, said DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang.

Lim was referring to Justice Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus, who had been bypassed for elevation to the Federal Court.

"Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria - who is also the JAC chairperson - should explain whether the controversial Ayer Molek Rubber Company vs Insas Bhd case is one reason why Justice Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus has been bypassed twice and denied elevation to the Federal Court.

"Arifin ( right ) owes not only the local and international legal and jurist community, but the whole nation, a proper and satisfactory explanation as a series of recent cases and events have put the Malaysian judiciary in the dock as to its ability to uphold a truly independent judiciary with a just rule of law," Lim said in a statement today.

Yesterday, Malaysiakini reported retired Court of Appeal judge KC Vohrah as claiming Eusoff had attempted to subvert an appellate court hearing of an appeal in the Ayer Molek case.

Despite this, the panel - in which Vohrah was a member - took the High Court to task, stating that "grave injustices had been perpetrated".

The Ayer Molek case involved the granting of an ex-parte order to compel the Ayer Molek Rubber Company to effect the transfer of 540,000 of its ordinary shares to Insas, and to issue new certificates in Insas' name within two working days.

The High Court - which granted the order - had made it impossible for the respondent to set aside the order, as the judge adjourned the hearing beyond the two working days period and also refused to grant a stay, pending appeal at the Court of Appeal.

This was finally rectified by the Court of Appeal, but a three-member Federal Court panel led by Eusoff then swiftly set aside the earlier decision by the appellate court.

Unqualified judge

The Bar Council cried foul over the Federal Court judgment, stating that it is illegally constituted as one of its members had been a High Court judge who is not qualified to sit on a Federal Court bench.

Hishamudin - then a High Court judge - came into the picture 11 years later, when VK Lingam who had represented Insas in the Ayer Molek case brought a RM100 million defamation suit against Euro Money Publications.

The publication had published an article titled, ‘Malaysian justice on trial’ in the International Commercial Litigation magazine, where it alleged Lingam had attempted to corrupt the judiciary based on the findings of the Court of Appeal decision in the Ayer Molek case.

Lingam argued that the Court of Appeal decision on the matter had been expunged by the Federal Court panel led by Eusoff.

However, Justice Hishamudin stood his ground saying the Federal Court panel by Eusoff was not legally constituted as it comprised only "two legally competent judges - namely, Eusoff and a Court of Appeal judge".

Lim ( left ) noted that in October 1995, he had also raised similar concerns in Parliament of how a High Court judge could pull off a "double jump" to sit as a Federal Court judge.

Justice Hishamudin had been a High Court judge for 14 years, the longest-serving judge, before he was elevated to the Court of Appeal.

He is now the most senior Court of Appeal judge who has yet to be elevated, along with Justice Abdul Wahab Patail.