Its president Khairil Azmi Mohd Hasbie said the association has decided to refer the two lawyers to the Advocates Inquiry Committee, an independent disciplinary body separate from the AAS.
He said, in a statement today, this is so that the committee can “conduct its inquiry into possible instances of professional misconduct under laws and regulations governing the legal profession in the state.”
“The inquiry committee is a statutory body established under the Advocates (Inquiry Committee) rules 1988, with its panel members consisting senior advocates appointed by the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.
Khairil Azmi said that the AAS has also lodged a police report on the matter this afternoon to enable the authorities to investigate the content of the expose and to take further action upon finding any criminal infractions.
Although the statement did not name the lawyers, the two implicated in the video were Huang Lung Ong and also Alvin Chong Chee Vun.
The AAS president said the matter was now in the capable hands of the relevant authorities.
“Until investigations are concluded and more facts come to light, the AAS advises the public at large to allow the law to take its course and to refrain from speculation,” he said.
The videos which were reported by Global Witness, along with Malaysiakini and Al Jazeera
on Tuesday, show them being allegedly involved in a land deal involving
Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s first cousins and close
associate.It depicted Huang, of Huang & Company Advocates, a representative of Billion Venture Sdn Bhd, as stating that the owner of the company is his (Huang’s) uncle, prominent Sarawak timber tycoon Hii Yii Peng.
Hii is allegedly very close to Taib. Huang divulges that Hii is expected to pay Taib a kickback of approximately 10 percent of the licence value in return for the directive from Taib’s ministry to issue the logging licence.
The other involves Chong, who is said to represent Taib’s first cousin Norlia Abdul Rahman, and the company, Ample Agro Sdn Bhd, alegedly proposeing that the sale of the company land to the “foreign investor” cum investigator, be executed in Singapore to evade real property gains tax and the 51 percent equity requirement.
Taib’s lawyers deny allegations
Taib’s lawyer Mishcon de Reya, in an immediate response, told Global Witness that the NGO’s allegations “are entirely untrue”, and they “call into question our client’s personal and professional integrity and seek to say that he is unfit for the role he holds within Sarawak”.
The Sarawak chief minister has also denied that his first cousins acted as his brokers as well as claims he had quarrelled with their father Abdul Rahman Ya’akob, a former chief minister.
Huang, in yesterday’s report which appeared in The Malay Mail has denied such conversation took place, citing it was mere coffeeshop talk and that he was trapped into being consulted on legal matters regarding land.
“Why should I speak about the chief minister?” a partner of law firm Huang & Co fumed.
“I may have uttered some words out of frustration as he (the ‘foreign investor’) kept on asking me many questions. I was pressured,” Huang was quoted to have said.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigation director Mustafar Ali was also quoted as saying that the graft busters would “act accordingly”, following the Global Witness revelation.
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