Kapar MP S Manikavasagam will have to inform the "witnesses" that he intends to bring to the Selcat hearings, to stay home.
The fiery first-term lawmaker told Malaysiakini that he received a letter from the state assembly secretary that only he, and he alone can attend the hearing until told otherwise.
"I had requested Selcat's permission, to bring in my witnesses to testify. They were the ones who initially complained to me.
"But the secretary said they cannot come. I'm very disappointed," he said.
He added that he has no idea why Selcat chairman Teng Chang Khim, who is also the speaker of the Selangor legislative assembly, made the decision.
He said that the hearing would be "difficult" without the witnesses' testimonies.
According to a correspondence by the state assembly secretary, additional witnesses will have to send in written statements to the committee first before the decision on whether or not they should be allowed to attend could be made.
Previous reports said that Manikavasagam had said that the complainants were contractors and staff of the implicated company itself.
Manikavasagam, also popularly known as Mike, will be facing the Selangor Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency over his claims of a sand scandal at a public hearing on June 2.
He had previously claimed that there was corruption involved in the state government owned sand and minerals mining company Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd.
Lawyer barred from representing him
He also revealed that his lawyer, N Surendran, is also not allowed to represent him at the hearings.
"Apparently they have changed the laws, maybe because of the (former MB Khir Toyo) fiasco," said Manikavasagam.
Khir, in the Selcat hearings back in March last year over his RM1.6 million overseas trips, which included a tour of Disneyland, he had refused to attend the hearings and sent his lawyer to represent him instead.
When contacted, Surendran also said that the amendment to the state legislative assembly standing orders were gazetted in July 6, 2009.
"The amendment is to bar lawyers from representing people called up by any select committee under the state assembly, and in this case, it includes Selcat.
"This means that the lawyers can only hold watching briefs. But they cannot talk or anything," he said.
"This business of stopping lawyers, is unparliamentary in any Commonwealth countries. This amendment is clearly aimed at depriving those hauled up by the committee, of legal access and advise," he said.
He added that he will be writing to the Bar Council to take up the matter, he is now unsure if he will be following Manikavasagam to the hearings.
"If I go, it means we are legitimizing this oppressive amendment. But its no use me being there anyway," he said.
The fiery first-term lawmaker told Malaysiakini that he received a letter from the state assembly secretary that only he, and he alone can attend the hearing until told otherwise.
"I had requested Selcat's permission, to bring in my witnesses to testify. They were the ones who initially complained to me.
"But the secretary said they cannot come. I'm very disappointed," he said.
He added that he has no idea why Selcat chairman Teng Chang Khim, who is also the speaker of the Selangor legislative assembly, made the decision.
He said that the hearing would be "difficult" without the witnesses' testimonies.
According to a correspondence by the state assembly secretary, additional witnesses will have to send in written statements to the committee first before the decision on whether or not they should be allowed to attend could be made.
Previous reports said that Manikavasagam had said that the complainants were contractors and staff of the implicated company itself.
Manikavasagam, also popularly known as Mike, will be facing the Selangor Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency over his claims of a sand scandal at a public hearing on June 2.
He had previously claimed that there was corruption involved in the state government owned sand and minerals mining company Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd.
Lawyer barred from representing him
He also revealed that his lawyer, N Surendran, is also not allowed to represent him at the hearings.
"Apparently they have changed the laws, maybe because of the (former MB Khir Toyo) fiasco," said Manikavasagam.
Khir, in the Selcat hearings back in March last year over his RM1.6 million overseas trips, which included a tour of Disneyland, he had refused to attend the hearings and sent his lawyer to represent him instead.
When contacted, Surendran also said that the amendment to the state legislative assembly standing orders were gazetted in July 6, 2009.
"The amendment is to bar lawyers from representing people called up by any select committee under the state assembly, and in this case, it includes Selcat.
"This means that the lawyers can only hold watching briefs. But they cannot talk or anything," he said.
"This business of stopping lawyers, is unparliamentary in any Commonwealth countries. This amendment is clearly aimed at depriving those hauled up by the committee, of legal access and advise," he said.
He added that he will be writing to the Bar Council to take up the matter, he is now unsure if he will be following Manikavasagam to the hearings.
"If I go, it means we are legitimizing this oppressive amendment. But its no use me being there anyway," he said.
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