A five-member royal commission headed by former chief judge of Malaya Haidar Mohamed Noor has been announced today by the government to look into the Lingam tape.

Other members of the commission are former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim , former Court of Appeal judge Mahadev Shankar , former solicitor-general Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh and historian and Suhakam commissioner Khoo Kay Kim .

Two of the five members - Haidar and Mahadev - have been given another chance to complete the task which they have apparently failed to do when they were part of the government-appointed panel to determine the authenticity of the tape.

Prime Minister Deparment's Legal Affairs Division head Abdullah Sani Hamid will act as the commission secretary.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the members of this commission in a statement today. He had previously announced the setting up of the commission on Nov 16.

The full official name of the royal panel is 'Commission of Enquiry of the Video Clip Recording of Images of a Person Purported to be an Advocate and Solicitor Speaking on the Telephone on Matters Regarding the Appointment of Judges.

The commission is established following a report submitted to the government by a three-member panel on the authenticity of the video clip.

The panel, which was also headed by Haidar, had concluded the clip - featuring senior lawyer VK Lingam purportedly brokering judicial appointments with a top judge - was authentic and recommended that the matter should be investigated further by a royal commission.

The panel, which also included Mahadev, took one month to complete its task and was criticised for its narrow terms on reference. The panel had no powers to look into the alleged ‘judicial appointment fixing’ that caused public outrage.

Terms of reference

The five-point terms of reference given to the commission will be restricted to the matters raised in the video clip. Interestingly, it also include establishing the authenticity of the video clip, which was the key issue investigated by an earlier government-appointed panel.

The terms of references are:

1) to enquire and ascertain the authenticity of the video clip

2) to enquire and identify the speaker, the person he was speaking to in the video clip and the persons mentioned in the conversation

3) to enquire and ascertain the truth or otherwise of the content of the conversation in the video clip

4) to determine whether any act of misbehaviour has been committed by person or persons identified or mentioned in the video clip

5) to recommend any appropriate course of action to be taken against the person or persons identified or mentioned in the video clip, should such person or persons be found to have committed any misbehaviour.

The royal commission will have three months from today, or until mid-March, to complete its inquiry.

The eight-minute video clip showed lawyer VK Lingam in a telephone conversation purportedly with then chief judge of Malaya Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, discussing the appointment of judges to the Court of Appeal and Federal Court.

Ahmad Fairuz was appointed chief justice in 2003. He retired from the post on Oct 31.

Ahmad Fairuz has indirectly denied any links with the phone conversation while Lingam has only said that he would cooperate with the royal commission on his alleged role in the appointment of ‘friendly’ judges to the higher courts.

SPECIAL REPORT: The Lingam tape