Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad revealed today that he was interviewed by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) yesterday in relation to the Lingam tape.

He told a press conference at his Perdana Leadership Foundation office in Putrajaya that he was interviewed by three officers for an hour. The interview took place at his office at the foundation.

“The Anti-Corruption Agency interviewed me and asked me questions. And I answered them,” he told reporters after launching a book on international law by legal expert Tunku Dr Sofiah Jewa.

An eight-minute video clip, exposed on Sept 19 by opposition party PKR, showed senior lawyer VK Lingam in a telephone conversation brokering the appointments of ‘friendly’ judges purportedly with recently retired chief justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

In the video clip, Lingam claimed to have roped in tycoon Vincent Tan, a close crony of Mahathir, and then-deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, to talk to Mahathir on the appointment of judges.

Lingam has withheld comment but has pledged to cooperate with the royal commission, while Ahmad Fairuz denied involvement via a third party.

Tengku Adnan has also previously denied involvement in the issues raised.

The controversial clip, said to have been made in 2002, sparked off widespread outrage, with numerous quarters urging the government to take immediate remedial measures to restore the integrity of the judiciary

As a result, the government formed a royal commission headed by former chief judge of Malaya Haidar Mohamed Noor to look into the authenticity of the video clip as well as the matters raised in the clip.

Appearing as witness

The commission had said that it would probably invite Mahathir to appear as a witness before it.

Commenting on this today, Mahathir said he would abide by orders to appear before the commission.

“If I am required to testify, the law requires that I testify. I cannot say no,” he said.

He declined to express further, however, on the controversy or the allegations of judicial fixing.

“It’s up to the royal commission to see whether there is truth or not in the allegations or in the tape,” he said.

Mahathir also dismissed as “some opinion” the comment - made in the video clip - regarding the importance not only of knowing the law but to ‘kow tow’ (pay homage) to the ‘emperor’.

“I’m not in a position to pass comments on that. Everybody has an opinion, and they are entitled to their own opinions,” Mahathir added.

On whether Lingam or Tan had visited him on the issue of judicial appointments as claimed in the video clip, Mahathir said it was “silly” to ask him on that.

“I don’t know whether Lingam said it or not. I have not seen the tape. What I saw was on TV, TV3. That’s all. I don’t know. I didn’t hear him mentioning Tengku Adnan or me,” he said.

Mahathir’s detractors have long blamed him for the rot in the judiciary which they claimed had set in 1988 after he had removed Lord President Salleh Abas.


SPECIAL REPORT: The Lingam tape