MACC operations panel seeks to review Lingam case

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

PUTRAJAYA, Nov 12 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission operations review panel (PPO) said today it will seek the Attorney-General’s permission to review the V.K. Lingam case, bowing to public pressure and unhappiness over the government’s decision that “no further action” be taken over the judicial appointments scandal.

The chairman of the panel, Tan Sri Dr Hadenan Abdul Jalil, who is a former Auditor-General, told a press conference today that permission was being sought on grounds of public interest.

"I am thinking of writing a letter to the Attorney-General's office to ask for this case to be tabled to the PPO. We are interested to know what happened for the sake of public interest," said Hadenan.

He said that although looking into the Lingam case was not within the jurisdiction of the panel, public interest should be upheld and the panel has a right to give a second opinion regarding the matter.

The PPO was formed as part of the restructuring of ACA to become the MACC at the beginning of the year.

The panel consists of seven individuals who come from various professional backgrounds such as former government officials, corporate officers, academics, lawyers as well as auditors.

The Bar Council said yesterday it was disheartened by the government’s position in the Lingam controversy which it said had brought the Malaysian justice system into shameful disrepute.

Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan said that he was appalled at the government’s stand that no wrongdoing could be established in the probe into the Lingam video clip incident.

When contacted by The Malaysian Insider today, Ragunath said that he was pleased with the MACC review panel’s suggestion

“I am pleased with the recent developments that have taken place. We hope that something positive will come out of this,” said the Bar Council president.

Lingam, a senior lawyer, had been secretly recorded on video engaged in a telephone conversation where he appears to be brokering senior judicial appointments.

The video first surfaced in 2007 and became a major campaign issue in Election 2008 for the opposition.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz sparked an uproar in Parliament on Monday when he said “judiciary fixer” Lingam had been let off the hook “because he had broken no law”.

Nazri also suggested that Lingam breached no laws as he might “have just acted to fix the appointment of judges as if he was brokering the appointment of senior judges to impress people”.

A royal commission had proposed that action be taken against Lingam and several others purportedly involved in the recording including former Chief Justices Tun Eusoff Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, and tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan, a close friend of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Nazri revealed that investigations by the MACC on the figures named also found no conclusive evidence that there was any form of power abuse by any of them.

Pakatan Rakyat MPs had also recently presented an alleged key witness to back their claims that Lingam and Eusoff, who was then Chief Justice, had planned a New Zealand trip together.

They had hoped the alleged key witness, Lingam’s former secretary Jayanthi Naidu, would prove that the government was attempting to cover up the scandal which has raised suspicions about possible collusion.

However, Nazri denied Jayanthi was the witness that MACC was looking for.