Under attack for allegedly fixing judicial appointments with a senior lawyer, Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim continues to remain tight-lipped over the issue.

The two-paragraph fax from Ahmad Fairuz's special assistant Arleen Ramly which reached Malaysiakini office at 4:55pm bore a simple sentence - "he has no comments".

In a fax addressed to CJ's Putrajaya office yesterday, Malaysiakini asked for Ahmad Fairuz's response to the judiciary scandal that was revealed by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday.

The explosive video clip released showed senior lawyer VK Lingam in a phone conversation, purportedly with Ahmad Fairuz, allegedly fixing the appointment of 'friendly' senior judges.

The eight-minute clip - said to be originally 14 minutes - was recorded sometime in 2002 when Ahmad Fairuz was the Chief Judge of Malaya.

The recording shows Lingam, who was sporting a moustache, walking up and down in a room, talking into a mobile phone.

The inference from the discussion was that "key players" should be nominated for judicial appointments in order to hear cases and deliver judgments accordingly.

A main point of the conversation - believed to be with Ahmad Fairuz in the context of the conversation - was that there appeared to be two camps in the judiciary belonging respectively to former CJ Eusoff Chin and his successor, Mohamad Dzaiddin Abdullah.

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.

Quit call gains momentum

To ensure that the 'right' judge were in the top positions, 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 the PM's Department.

They were to talk to Mahathir on the appointment of judges.

Ahmad Fairuz has not made any statements since the scandal surfaced but calls for him to resign or be suspended under Article 125 of the Constitution - which allows the removal of a Federal Court judge in the case of ethical breach - have been gaining momentum.

Meanwhile, the 12,000-strong Bar Council has described the video as "shocking and disturbing" and an emergency meeting will be convened tomorrow to discuss the matter.

Also, two former Transparency International Malaysia presidents Param Cumaraswamy and Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim have lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Agency yesterday over allegations of corruption and professional misconduct found in a poison pen letter.

The three-page poison pen letter which detailed various allegations of extravagant claims, favouritism, abuse of power, corruption and judgment fixing by Ahmad Fairuz.

Laden with typos, the letter written in English, also alleged professional misconduct by other judges currently sitting on the bench.



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.


Watch the eight-minute video here
Transcript of Lingam's conversation with Ahmad Fairuz