KUALA LUMPUR: Chief Justice Zaki Azmi today refused to comment on the complaint lodged by Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh on allegations that the former was involved in corrupt practise while being a lawyer in the 1980s.
“Just stick to the matter at hand,” Zaki retorted, referring to the newly launched New Civil Courts (NcvC) at the Kuala Lumpur court complex today.
On Aug 20, Karpal filed a complaint in Putrajaya against Zaki under the newly-minted Judges’ Code of Ethics Act, 2010, for allegedly admitting in an English daily on Nov 7, 2008 that he had to bribe court officials to get his files attended to.
“It took me six months to be nice, to bribe each and every individual to get back into their good books before our files were attended to,” Zaki was quoted as saying in the daily.
Karpal, who also the DAP national chairman, urged the prime minister to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to appont a tribunal, in accordance with Clause (4) of the Federal Constitution to remove the Zaki from his office.
However, no action had been taken to date.
Justice won't be compromised
On another matter, Zaki said the newly launched civil courts are is aimed at disposing off cases within nine months from the date the cases are filed.
“I hope it will emulate the success as shown by the New Commercial Court (NCC),” said Zaki, who added the NCC which was formed in September last year had managed to clear a lot of case backlogs.
“A total of 389 cases were registered in September 2009 in NCC. As of now, only one case is left pending while rest have been disposed,”said Zaki.
When asked whether the speedy method of getting case disposed might affect the natural course of justice, Zaki said not all cases are disposed off just for the sake of a deadline.
“We do understand that some cases are complex, therefore it may take about 12 months before we can get a decision on it.
“However, about 90 percent of the cases filed are based on facts. So it shouldn't be much of a problem to meet the deadline,” added Zaki.
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