KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip has found that it was former Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim who was talking to prominent lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam on the telephone.
Sources said the five-man panel also found that the video clip was authentic and that the conversation was true in substance.
They said the commission also found that it was lawyer Loh Mui Fah who Lingam was speaking to after his telephone conversation with Fairuz.
Commission chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor presented a two-volume report on the findings to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin at the Istana Negara here yesterday.
The commission commenced its enquiry on Jan 14.
They said the commission found sufficient reason for the relevant authorities to take appropriate action against those implicated for breaches of the Sedition Act, the Penal Code, the Official Secrets Act, the Legal Profession Act and other laws.
They added that the commission was recommending the Government set up a Judicial Appointments Commission and to undertake other necessary reforms.
Sources also said the commission stated that its report was not meant as an indictment against all judges.
Former Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor, who chaired the commission, said yesterday that the King was happy that the enquiry had been completed.
The other four members of the commission were former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong, former Court of Appeal Judge and former Suhakam commissioner Datuk Mahadev Shankar, former Solicitor-General Puan Sri Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh and Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim.
The video clip showing the apparent brokering of judicial appointments and promotions first came to light on Sept 19 last year when PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim released it at a press conference.
Anwar later released two more segments that showed Lingam telling Loh that he had been talking to Fairuz.
On Sept 25, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that an independent inquiry committee would investigate the authenticity of the video clip purportedly made in 2001.
The committee completed its report on Nov 6. It was studied by the Cabinet but never made public.
Based on the recommendations of the committee, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the setting up of the commission on Dec 12.
At the conclusion of the enquiry on Feb 15, the commission had heard testimony from 21 witnesses and received more than 100 exhibits and over 15 statutory declarations.
Among the prominent witnesses were former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan and retired chief justices Tun Mohamed Eusoff Chin and Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah.
The commission had first fixed March 11 to submit the report to the King but sought two one-month extensions later.
Source: The Star Online
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