Royal Commission on Lingam Video Clip: Lingam guilty of sedition, misconduct, says lawyer

KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam should be found guilty of sedition and professional misconduct.

This was in the written submission of lawyer Karpal Singh to the Royal Commission of Inquiry at the end of the 17-day sitting.Karpal also said the video clip was authentic and that the person in the clip speaking on the phone was indeed Lingam.

He said evidence showed the man was Lingam based on the testimony of businessman Loh Mui Fah, Lingam's brother Thirunama Karasu and his former driver D. Ramachandran.

He said even the evidence by the Anti-Corruption Agency revealed that it was Lingam. Tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan also testified that the man looked and sounded like Ling-am.

"This evidence confirms all probability that it was Lingam on the telephone and his conversation on the brokering of judicial appointments was seditious." Karpal is representing Internal Security Act detainee M. Manoharan.

Karpal also represented Da-tuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the former deputy prime minister's application to dismiss commission chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor from the panel."Sedition is defined as words uttered having a tendency to bring hatred or contempt or excite disaffection against the administration of justice"Lingam had also violated the Legal Profession Act, where he is liable to being struck off the rolls or being suspended for misconduct."Karpal said under the Sedition Act, a person can be fined a maximum of RM5,000 or be jailed for up to three years for the first offence.

Lingam in his testimony claimed that he did not remember brokering judicial appointments as reflected in the video clip."If I had referred to the then chief judge of Malaya Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, then I am sorry. But I was bull-******* and bragging.

"My house is my castle and I am the king of the house and can choose to talk rubbish when I am drunk," Lingam had said.Counsel for the parties are given until Monday to file their written submissions.The inquiry ended on Friday after 21 witnesses testified.

Among them were former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Samsudin Osman and Tourism Minister Datuk Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.It also included three former chief justices: Tun Mohamed Eusoff Chin, Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah and Ahmad Fairuz.

The commission has to submit the report to the Yang di- Pertuan Agong by March 11. - NST

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Malaysia Today