Embattled lawyer V K Lingam stunned the courtroom today when he accused senior lawyer Robert Lazar of seeking his help to be appointed as an appellate court judge in early 2000.

His allegation caught the Malaysian Bar’s legal team in the royal commission inquiry into the controversial VK Lingam video by surprise.

Although Lazar ( photo ), who heads the legal team, was not present at the Jalan Duta court, he immediately issued a denial via a colleague.

Limgam made the allegation when being quizzed by the Bar’s counsel Ranjit Singh on his earlier testimony that a lawyer had sought his help for judicial appointment.

Ranjit: Is that person a lawyer?

Lingam: Yes.

Ranjit: Is he close to you?

Lingam: He is well-known to me. Not very close.

Ranjit: Did you socialise occasionally with that person?

Lingam: No.

Ranjit: Why was the lawyer under the impression that you would be able to secure his appointment?

Lingam: I guess this person was desperate to go on the Bench. He wants to be directly on the Court of Appeal like Justice (Gopal) Sri Ram. He doesn’t want to be a JC (judicial commissioner) or a judge. He told me that if he approaches Tun Mohd Eusoff Chin (chief justice at the time), he will have to start as JC or a judge. He said there is a precedent set for direct elevation to the Court of Appeal (in Gopal’s case).

I was doing Mirzan Mahathir’s case, (and) he was representing the Star paper in the argument in the Court of Appeal. He appeared for the opposite side and his name is Robert Lazar ( photo ) from Shearn Delamore & Co. After the case, we went for a drink and he said, ‘You are the man who can help me’ and he put up a page why I should help him. I told him I don’t know Tun Dr Mahathir (Mohamad, the then premier). He said the son (Mirzan) will do, ‘All you need to do is to talk to the son’.

Lingam’s statement caused Ranjit to pause. The lawyer then asked Lingam when the alleged incident took place, to which he replied that it was in early 2000.

Lingam’s allegation against Lazar was first brought up when he was questioned by Eusoff’s lawyer, Mohamed Fauzi Mat Zain, earlier.

Eusoff has been accused of having a close relationship with Lingam, including their infamous holiday trip to New Zealand in 1994, but the former chief justice has denied the claim and described their relationship as “ not extremely close ”.

Lazar to testify tomorrow

During the questioning, Fauzi asked Lingam - the central figure in the 14-minute video clip - whether anyone has ever sought his help to lobby to Eusoff for judicial appointments.

“Someone approached me for help - not to speak to Eusoff but to Tun Mahathir to be elevated to the Court of Appeal,” Lingam, 57, who was clad in a light brown suit and a red-striped tie, told the commission.

Asked whether he acceded to the request, Lingam replied: “I told the person that I don’t know Tun Mahathir but then the person told me to talk to his son, Mirzan.

“I told him Mirzan is my client at the time, not my friend. He appealed to me a few times but I told him I can’t do anything,” claimed Lingam.

Yeo Yang Poh, who is also appearing for the Malaysian Bar, was granted an application later for Lazar to testify to the commission on the allegation raised by Lingam at the inquiry tomorrow.

“I have since spoken to Lazar... (he) can testify there was no truth in the allegation at all,” Yeo said, adding that Lazar was not present today as he is attending other court cases.

Commissioner Mahadev Shankar interjected saying the commission has taken note on how the information was volunteered by Lingam, as the commissioner told Ranjit earlier that there is no necessity to examine the individual’s identity as it was not raised in the clip.

‘Irretrievable breakdown’

Meanwhile, Lingam denied all the allegations raised by his younger brother Thirunama Karasu. Among others, the latter claimed that Lingam had bought a branded wallet, handbag, mobile phone and even intended to purchase a house for Eusoff.

In his witness statement, Thirunama claimed that Lingam had told him of a plan to give a house located in Kg Tunku to Eusoff but the ex-chief justice had allegedly wanted a bigger plot of land to build a house of his choice.

He further claimed that Lingam had allegedly instructed Thirunama to look for two plots of land as him (Lingam) and tycoon Vincent Tan wanted to buy the land for Eusoff.

Responding to this, Lingam told the commission: “Certainly it’s not true. My wife was not happy with the house in Kg Tunku, that’s why I put it in the market for sale. I asked Thirunama to look for potential buyers.

“Yes, I told him to look for two plots of land but that was for me, not anybody else,” he said, adding that the claim that he bought branded wallet and handbag for Eusoff from Italy were also untrue.

Lingam said these items were meant for his wife.

He also denied another allegation that his brother had driven his BMW and several other different cars on a few occasions when the lawyer sent files to Eusoff’s house during late hours.

“I never had a BMW in the first place. I only went to Eusoff’s house once with my wife and that was for the Hari Raya in 1995. That’s my only visit,” he said.

Similarly, Lingam said Eusoff had only visited him once during Deepavali in the same year.

At the end of his testimony, Lingam was asked by his lawyer R Thayalan on why Thirunama would want to “make up” the claims against him.

He suggested to the commission that there was an “irretrievable breakdown” between him and Thirunama together with another younger brother Ranjendram Vellupillai. Ranjendram had failed in his bid to testify before the commission against Lingam.

“Other members of the family were supporting them financially from childhood until now since our parents died. They want free money without working, which we cannot do. We can help them but not give free money.

“(Thirunama) told my younger sister that I promised to buy him a Mercedes, a bungalow, educate his two children and give him a lot of money but none of the family knows of this promise. He said if I don’t give, he will lodge a police report and make my life miserable,” Lingam alleged.

He added that he was informed by Thirunama’s lawyer M Manoharan later that his brother had lodged a police report against him.

Lingam subsequently denied the allegations in the report and claimed that Thirunama was suffering from psychiatric problems.

Lingam, who has taken the stand three times, ended his testimony today while Thirunama is expected to be called as a witness later.