Not sure if any common citizens would want to read through the 191 pages though; a few of the key highlights have been published in major newspapers anyway…

1. The video clip was authentic;

2. Lingam was having a phone conversation with former chief justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim;

3. Lingam was actively involved in the appointment of Ahmad Fairuz as President of the Court of Appeal, with the possible aim of his further appointment as Chief Justice;

4. Lingam had asked his close friends tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan and Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to involve themselves actively in the appointment of judges, in particular the appointment of Ahmad Fairuz as the Chief Judge of Malaya and subsequently, President of the Court of Appeal;

5. The phone conversation indicated Lingam’s ‘uncanny knowledge’ of what could be considered as matters protected under the Official Secrets Act; and that,

6. Tengku Adnan appeared to be Lingam’s ‘source’ in the Prime Minister’s Department. [Thestar]

Meanwhile, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail has ordered a thorough follow-up on all the findings made by the Royal Commission of Inquiry as well as the 14-minute recording… which they probably should have done at the first place.

From Bernama…

The judgement in a civil suit awarding RM10 million in damages to corporate figure Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun was written by lawyer Datuk V. K. Lingam, the Royal Commission of Inquiry was told today.

Lingam’s former secretary, L. G. Jayanthi said it was subsequently incorporated as the official judgment of the then High Court judge, Datuk Mokhtar Sidin who heard the case.

She made this revelation in her statutory declaration which was produced at the inquiry, affirming that the contents of her statutory declaration were true.

Jayanthi, 45, said that between November and early December 1994, she and two other colleagues, Sumanti Jaaman and Jamilah Abdul Rahman who also worked as secretaries for Lingam, were ‘detained’ by their boss to type a confidential document.

She later discovered that the purpose of their ‘detention’ was to prepare and type a judgement in relation to a civil suit brought by Tan against seven defendants, namely Haji Hassan Hamzah, Saw Eng Lim, the late M.G.G Pillai, V. Thavanesan, Dr Barjoyai Bardai, Media Printext (M) Sdn Bhd and Ling Wah Press Sdn Bhd.

“Lingam was dictating from some handwritten notes, the draft judgment in that case, for Sumanti to type.

“I was seated somewhere in the vicinity of the office and every now and then, Lingam would order me to get various reported judgements from the library to be incorporated in the judgment,” said Jayanthi, adding that the lawyer completed dictating the full judgement about 3am, before the judgement was printed out for Lingam to read.

“Lingam then corrected in red ink on certain pages of the draft judgement such as pages 3,7,9,19,24,28,32,35,39,40,42. Sumanti then did the corrections accordingly, and made a copy of the said draft judgment in a floppy disk which was to be given to Justice Datuk Mokhtar Sidin by Lingam,” she said.

Jayanthi said she later discovered that the judgment as was written by Lingam, was fully incorporated as the official judgment of the said judge.

“I must stress here, that when Lingam was dictating the judgment that night, he was aided by his brother, Datuk V.Sivaparanjothi and Adam Bachek and W. Satchithanandan.

“I have kept Lingam’s handwritten corrections of the draft judgement in my possession until handing it over, together with the corresponding formal judgement, to lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah on the same date which I handed over the other exhibits,” she added.

Questioned by conducting officer Datuk Nordin Hassan on why she kept all documents and photographs of the holiday trip of Lingam and former chief justice Tun Eusoff Chin, Jayanthi said before she resigned from the firm, Satchithanandan advised her to keep all the document because according to Satchithanandan, Lingam was a dangerous and vengeful person.

Jayanthi also revealed that she had booked the flight tickets for both Lingam and former chief justice Eusoff Chin for their infamous New Zealand holiday in late 1994, which Lingam and Eusoff Chin have claimed that they met coincidentally.

The main story of the video is that former Chief Judge Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah (2000-2003) was alledged to have accepted bribe from VK Lingam and Vincent Tan.

However saucey the story is, the video provides no breakthrough to the probe besides opening another source of investigation.

Lingam might be an idiot, but he is one clever fox. If he keep on with his “I was just talking thrash at home” statement, nobody could really prove that he was really involved in anything.

Off course we can argue that he knew too much about the supposedly secretive documents, that he must be involved some how… but he can always argue that whatever he said was mere coincidence; and with the benefit of doubts, he walks away (which probably means everyone else is walking free too).

The royal panel need to do more than just listening to these fellas, and the ACA needs to continue digging evidences from other sources. The videos might raise some eyebrows of the public, but when it comes to real conviction.. the videos are close to worthless at the moment.

Don’t let Lingam Tape overshadowed other issues

Btw, don’t let this Lingam tape saga overshadowed other issues we are facing in Malaysia. The press (and perhaps the public as well) are giving too much focus on this case while there are other matters that are happening in Malaysia.

It has become apparent that Badawi is not involved in the saga; he probably won’t mind having this scandal diverting public attention from other issues that Malaysia is facing.

Anti-Corruption Agency officials has told the royal commission on the VK Lingam tape that the room featured in the video clip was indeed the lawyer’s living room, as mentioned by businessman Loh Mui Fah during some earlier press interviews.

Loh has admitted that he was the person who talked to VK Lingam in the video, and that the video clip is authentic and was taken by his son in late December 2001. Loh however claimed that neither he nor his son knew how the video clip managed to get into public.

The most dramatic event of the day is perhaps the application being made for the disqualification of its chairperson and two other members.

M. Puravelan, who is representing three witnesses from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), said that the three commissioners (chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Nor, Tan Sri Amar Steve Shim Lip Kiong and Puan Sri Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh) should disqualify themselves because they have connections with either the case or the witnesses.

Puravelan (obviously just telling what Anwar Ibrahim told him to) said Haidar is a trustee of Perdana Foundation of which two other witnesses, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and prominent businessman Tan Sri Vincent Tan, are also trustees.

Personally I think the application is unnecessary. Mahathir had been Malaysia’s PM for more than 2 decades, most if not all of the prominent businessmen, government leaders and top judiciary officials for the past 30 years would have certain relationship with him (could be friends or enemies).

Besides, there are 17 people on the list (could be more in future) of inquiry; it’s close to impossible to find a team of qualified yet totally unrelated personnel to become the royal panel members. It would be wonderful if we managed to do so, but we have to be realistic and content with what we have at the moment.

I am not surprised with the scandal, but am surprised that something like that was caught on tape (or video, whatever). Our judiciary system is losing faith among Malaysians since former PM Mahathir Mohamad fired the chief judge in 1988. Since then Malaysia no longer have a judiciary that is independent from government administration.

It is therefore no surprise that money and relationship play a greater part in determining the position of senior judges rather than based on pure merit.

The main media has been extremely quiet on this saga; the news is not completely blackout, but the scale of the reports is pathetic.

Meanwhile DPM Najib Abdul Razak has said that the government will first confirm the authenticity of the ‘VK Lingam’ video before deciding on the next course of action. [Malaysiakini]

You can read the draft transcript via PKR’s website or Malaysiakini.

[Follow this tag for updates about Lingam Tape Scandal]