By Debra Chong and Lee Wei Lian- The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 - The Malaysian Bar Council hit out strongly against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for questioning one of the lawyers on the legal team representing Perak Assembly Speaker V Sivakumar this afternoon.
Ipoh-based lawyer Augustine Anthony claimed MACC officers asked him about his dealings with Sivakumar, whom they are investigating for allegations of misconduct.
“We are very concerned with these actions because we view these actions as acts of intimidation of a lawyer who was exercising his professional duty to his client,” Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan told The Malaysian Insider.
“Recently, there appears to be a trend by the authorities to question lawyers who are acting for certain clients in relation to the discharge of their duties,” she added, naming prominent lawyers R. Sivarasa, N. Surendran, M. Puravalen and Americk Sidhu who had represented private eye P. Balasubramaniam, a key witness in the murder trial of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu, before he went missing.
Ambiga noted such interrogations had spiked since the 12th General Elections last March, which resulted in an upset to the Barisan Nasional's tight grip on power in several key states.
“This cannot be tolerated. The lawyer-client privilege is sacrosanct,” she observed.
In a press conference in Ipoh, Augustine said that the unscheduled questioning a day before he was to represent his client in an important court case was tantamount to harrassment and had impeded his work.
He told reporters that he informed MACC of his willingness to assist in the investigations but requested that due notice be given. He said that the surprise visit prevented him from having his counsel, Bar Council Human Rights Committee chairman, Edmund Bon, be present at the time of questioning.
“It was an embarrassment for me because clients were in my office, and they had to be told to wait by my clerk because I was being questioned by the MACC,” he said. “How will that reflect on me because my clients do not know why I was being questioned.”
He added that the questioning lasted about half an hour.
Augustine is due to represent Sivakumar in a hearing tomorrow where the latter is being sued by Jamaluddin Radzi, Osman Jailu and Hee Yit Foong, who are seeking a declaration that they are still representatives of their constituencies.
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