A lawyer who claimed to be upset with the conduct of the Malaysian Bar’s Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) last Friday today sought to apply for a court declaration to nullify the meeting.

NONEMohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz (right), a member of the Malaysian Bar, named the Bar Council, Malaysian Bar, Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee and secretary Tony Woon Yeow Thong as defendants.

Mohd Khairul Azam sought:

  1. A declaration that the EGM notice dated May 4, 2012 is invalid and violated the Legal Profession Act 1976 as it was allegedly, among others, issued seven days before the event was held;
  2. A declaration that the motions proposed by the defendants on May 4 is invalid as it allegedly did not, among others, give recipients abundant time to file a motion of response;
  3. A declaration that the EGM is invalid due to, among others, its earlier improper notice; and
  4. A declaration that the motions passed are invalid as their passage allegedly involved, among others, the participation of “phantom voters”.

Mohd Khairul also sought for an injunction in the same application to stop the defendants or its agents, staff and representatives from publishing or writing anything pertaining to anything that transpired at the EGM.

'Topics beyond the Bar Council's jurisdiction'

He said the motions, which discussed the police’s alleged brutality during Bersih 3.0 on April 28 and its post-rally developments, were  topics beyond the Bar Council's jurisdiction.

“(The motions) were leading towards violations of the Sedition Act 1948,” he added.

He claimed that he has got the “phantom voters”, those who were not lawyers but cast ballots that day, to be his witnesses.

“I also call on those who attended the EGM and smelled something fishy to come forward,” he said.

The Sentul-based lawyer also denied that he is an Umno member, saying that he instead had applied to join PAS but was rejected.

When asked whether he viewed former inspector-general of police Hanif Omar as a suitable person to lead the Bersih investigation panel, his answer was non-commital.

“I don’t care who leads the panel, but the decision must be made upon reaching a consensus among the majority,” he said.

 Bar will defend suit 

Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee, when contacted, declined commenting on the suit directly, saying that he "would like to keep his cards close to his chest".

He, however, ticked off Mohd Khairul for distributing copies of court papers to journalists.

NONE"The Bar Council reminds its members that Rule 60A of the Legal Profession (Practice and Etiquette) Rules 1978 state that an advocate and solicitor shall not furnish copies of any document filed in court, before the hearing in open court, to the press and shall not in any event furnish copies of any document other than documents read in Court.

"A breach of this rule is misconduct," said Chee (left), adding that the Bar will "defend the suit".


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