26/12: Anti-corruption body questions top officials

JUDGE-FIXING VIDEO

(THE STRATITS TIMES) - MALAYSIA'S Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) has questioned the recently-retired chief justice and at least 20 other people over a video clip showing a lawyer talking about how he can fix high-level judicial appointments.

The clip, which came to light two months ago, had shaken further the Malaysian judiciary which was already struggling with a crisis of confidence after persistent allegations of political interference in the last two decades.

The Star daily said yesterday that the ACA had also questioned former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former chief secretary to the government Samsuddin Osman, prominent lawyer V.K. Lingam, Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, and tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan.

The video clip showed someone resembling Datuk Lingam talking on the phone about how he was working to secure high-level judicial posts for certain judges with the help of a politician and businessman.

He had identified the person on the other end of the line as former chief justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, although the former judge has denied it.

The government has ordered an investigation into the scandalous clip which surfaced just as Tun Ahmad was due for retirement last month.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry is to start its hearing on Jan 14.

There are high expectations that it will look into the wider problems besetting the judiciary for more than a decade.

The Malaysian Human Rights Commission chairman, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, recently said the royal commission's specific terms of reference relating to the video clip should not stop it from going beyond this scope.