CJ's 'judicial fixing' caught on tape

Courtesy of Malaysiakini.tv

An explosive video clip showing a senior lawyer in a telephone conversation allegedly with Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim discussing the appointment of judges was released by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim yesterday.

The accompanying subtitle in the video is not 100 percent accurate because of the quality of the audio.

Background to the Lingam tape

The grainy eight-minute video footage was taken in 2002 at senior lawyer VK Lingam�s Kelana Jaya house. At that time, Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah was chief justice. Appointed in 2000, he was seen as a fresh break from his two previous predecessors - Mohd Eusoff Chin (1994-2000) and Abdul Hamid Omar (1988-1994).

Dzaiddin was to retire in 2003, and the video showed Lingam expressing concerned that the outgoing CJ was moving his �men� into top judiciary posts. The conversation revolved around the urgent need to get Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, then chief judge of Malaya - the judiciary�s No 3 - appointed as Court of Appeal president (No 2) and then chief justice (No 1). There was also the plan to get former attorney-general Mokhtar Abdullah, who was then a Federal Court judge, to replace Ahmad Fairuz as No 3.

To do that, Lingam had roped in tycoon Vincent Tan, a close crony of then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, a key minister in PM�s Department. They were to talk to Mahathir on the appointment of judges.

Postscript

Ahmad Fairuz was appointed Court of Appeal president in December 2002 - months after the telephone conversation. Dzaiddin stepped down as CJ in 2003 and he was replaced by Ahmad Fairuz. Mokhtar, however, could not take the No 3 post as he was in coma after suffering from a fall in August 2002. He died in 2003. Ahmad Fairuz' term as CJ will end in October 2007.

Go to Malaysiakini for more details and reports on the Lingam tape.