Prominent lawyer and DAP chairperson Karpal Singh has urged the government to re-open investigation into the allegations of corruption and abuse of power within the judiciary made by a former high court judge.

"Don't just slam Dr Mahathir (Mohamad), probe whether there is any truth in the letter written by (ex-judge) Syed Ahmad Idid Syed Abdullah," Karpal (DAP - Bukit Gelugor) told de facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz in a supplementary question during the question-and-answer session in Parliament today.

The opposition politician was obviously referring to Nazri's attack on Mahathir yesterday.

Responding, Nazri - who is minister in the Prime Minister's Department - teased the wheelchair-bound Karpal for treating Mahathir as an opposition ally now despite "hating" Mahathir when the latter was prime minister.

He then said: "The letter written by Idid was a poison-pen letter. It was only after investigation then we knew the writer was Idid. It was a letter without any signature, thus it is a poison-pen and an irresponsible letter in the first place.

Wild accusations

"After we knew it was written by Idid, the government investigated it, the Anti-Corruption Agency as well as the Attorney-General's Chamber also investigated, but we found the claims were baseless that is why no action was taken," he replied.

Nazri also said the letter contained "wild accusations".

In a recent interview with the New Straits Times, Syed Ahmad Idid broke his 10-year silence to reveal how he was forced to resign in July 1996 as High Court judge for writing the anonymous letter, which contained allegations of corruption and abuse of power that implicated 12 judges.

Following the interview, Nazri said no further action would be taken while Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim asked for the matter to be put to rest as previous investigations had dismissed the allegations.

MAS staff in MSS scheme

Meanwhile, in replying to the original question from Madius Tangau (BN-Tuaran), Nazri said the Education Department is not the most corrupted department in the country, as implied by the backbencher.

The minister said only five persons from the department were charged in court for corruption in 2003, while six each in 2004 and 2005.

In another unrelated development, Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy told the Dewan Rakyat that a total of 4,236 staff from Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has taken part in the mutual separation scheme, or MSS, offered by the national carrier.

Chan, in replying to Chor Chee Heung (BN-Alor Setar), expressed confidence that the airline will hit the target of 6,500 staff to take up the MSS offer.

MAS, which has been hit by financial turbulence, is trying to regain its balance by shedding between 3,000 to 5,000 of its present 23,000-strong workforce through the one-time-only MSS offer.