Bar finishing probe over PI Bala’s declaration

The Star
by SHAILA KOSHY

KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council is near the end of its inquiries into allegations of misconduct against a lawyer who allegedly prepared the second statutory declaration (SD2) for “PI Bala”.

“The target is to make a decision at the council meeting in April,” said its chairman Lim Chee Wee.

“If we find prima facie evidence of misconduct, we will lodge a complaint with the Disciplinary Board.”

Lim, whose term as chairman and Malaysian Bar president ends tomorrow after the Bar’s annual gerneral meeting, admitted it was “unfinished business” but denied they had dragged their feet.

He said he wrote to everyone conceivably related to the issue to come forward but none had.

He then wrote to the lawyer whose name had come up in speculations as having drafted the SD2.

“I received a response and we are engaged in further correspondence,” he said, adding that he had also written to the lawyer’s son, a Bar member, whose name had also cropped up.

Lim has also spoken with private investigator Balasubramaniam Perumal and carpet dealer Deepak Jaikrishnan’s lawyer.

He said this when asked about a motion for debate at the AGM calling for an independent investigation committee to look into the facts and circumstances of the preparation and execution of the SD2, purportedly affirmed by Bala on July 4, 2008.

The motion said the SD2 repudiated SD1, allegedly affirmed by Bala on July 1, that purportedly revealed facts about the 2006 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Bala was a prosecution witness in the murder trial.

The motion said recent exposes on the SDs had implicated a Bar member and public confidence might be undermined if they thought the Bar had “chosen to take no or minimal steps in addressing the matter”.

On the motion calling for council members and office bearers to be elected at the AGM, Lim said the current system of postal ballots was more manageable and representative of the 14,530-strong Bar.

Legal observers say the motion could be the result of complaints that some of the council’s actions or Lim’s statements as president were deemed pro-Opposition and not reflective of the Bar as a whole.

On the motion urging for e-filing fees to be reduced, Lim said the council was in favour, adding that they wanted to see open, competitive bidding when the present fee charger’s contract expired.