KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 - Unhappy with his failure to have the matter debated in Parliament Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh said today he will lodge a police report against the Chief Justice for alleged involvement in the corruption of court officials.
He told reporters he would be doing so at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters near Stadium Merdeka at 3pm tomorrow.
“I have no alternative. I thought I could do it in Parliament first but the Speaker has thrown it out,” the lawyer said.
Today, the Dewan Rakyat Speaker dismissed for the second time the DAP’s emergency parliamentary motion to open investigations into Chief JusticeTan Sri Zaki Azmi’s expose last week of judicial corruption.
The emergency motion, which was first filed on Monday, was initially rejected on grounds that it had been filed late and there were other motions.
Referring to a newspaper report published last Saturday, Karpal pointed out that Zaki had openly admitted to being aware of the corrupt practices of court officials at the registry while he was a practising lawyer.
The newspaper carried a clarification the following day, which quoted Zaki as saying: “Your reporter must have interpreted what I said, which is that during that period there was corruption in order to get things done at the court registry, as I myself having done it. I have never in my life bribed or received any bribe.”
The amendment failed to placate Karpal. If anything, he said it made Zaki’s actions even worse.
“Even this correction, if at all it is to be believed, renders Tan Sri Zaki a person unfit to be Chief Justice as he was morally obliged to lodge a report against the corrupt court officials.
“I am not questioning his conduct as Chief Justice, but his conduct as a lawyer way back in 1987,” he emphasised.
Today, Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia rejected the DAP motion on grounds that matters pertaining to the conduct of judges cannot be discussed in Parliament unless it was a private bill as stated under Rule 36(8) of the Standing Orders, or unless it obtained a quarter of votes from members in the House under Section 127 of the Federal Constitution.
themalaysianinsider
13/11/08
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