ACA interrogated me for three hours: Dr Mahathir

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says he has been interrogated by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) for three hours in relation to the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the V K Lingam video clip.

"I am sure I will be questioned in court also because of a possibility that I was lobbied on the appointment of judges," he said in his blog www.chedet.com yesterday.

Dr Mahathir's special officer Sufi Yusoff, in an SMS reply to Bernama, said the ACA had interviewed Dr Mahathir on June 25 relating to the Lingam video clip investigation.

Dr Mahathir referred to the issue of the commission in his comments on his relationship with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, which among others claimed that Anwar's interest in the proper appointment of judges was actually "to seek revenge against me".

"Now, the Royal Commission has named me as one of those to be investigated although I had nothing to do with Lingam and his activities," he said.

Dr Mahathir said he only came to know Lingam because he was successful in some litigation cases and decided to engage him as his lawyer in the case brought by Anwar.

"But the Royal Commission concluded that if it is possible that I was involved then I must be involved. It is almost like saying if it is possible I had murdered a person then I must have murdered the person. Proof beyond reasonable doubt is not necessary here," he said.

He said he was aware of efforts to find out if he had committed offences during his 22 years as prime minister.

"So far they haven't found anything. But now they have found an indirect way of getting at me," he said and added that he was not seeking sympathy from anyone.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry, in its report, had said that there was sufficient cause to invoke the Prevention of Corruption Act 1961, the Sedition Act 1961, the Legal Profession Act 1976, the Official Secrets Act 1972 and the Penal Code against Dr Mahathir, lawyer V K Lingam, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan and former chief justices Tun Mohd Eusoff Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

Dr Mahathir was the only one who had not filed for a judicial review following the report, saying he was prepared to go to court.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court has set July 16 to hear the preliminary objection to the applications for a judicial review by the five others.

Meanwhile, on May 16, the Cabinet ordered Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail to immediately direct agencies to investigate allegations levelled at the six of them.

— Bernama