'Close relatives' Haidar-Fairuz under spotlight
Beh Lih YiPublished: Feb 5, 2008 9:11 PM | Updated: Feb 5, 2008 9:13 PM
PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim will make an application this afternoon to object former Chief Judge of Malaya Haidar Mohd Noor from continuing to chair the commission of inquiry into the Lingam tape.
PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim will make an application this afternoon to object former Chief Judge of Malaya Haidar Mohd Noor from continuing to chair the commission of inquiry into the Lingam tape.
In a letter faxed to the commission’s secretary Abdullah Sani Ab Hamid this morning, Anwar - through his counsel Sankara Nair - said there was conflict of interest for Haidar to chair the inquiry.
“(Anwar) takes objection to Haidar’s chairing and continue being a member of the royal commission by virtue of there being a likelihood of real or perceived bias and/or a conflict of interest in view of the indisputable fact that Haidar and Ahmad Fairuz (Sheik Abdul Halim) are close relatives,” the one-page letter stated.
The letter added that Anwar has also appointed Sankara and senior lawyer Karpal Singh as his counsel to make the application to the commission when the inquiry resumes at 2pm today.
Apart from the duo, lawyer M Puravalen also acts for Anwar.
Ahmad Fairuz, former chief justice who retired last November, was said to be on the phone with lawyer VK Lingam in the scandalous judge-fixing video clip recorded in Dec 2001.
Fairuz - who was then the Chief Judge of Malaya, the judiciary’s No 3 - has appeared before the Haidar-led commission on Jan 28 and 29 as a key witness but has since denied he was the person talking to Lingam.
Anwar’s letter did not elaborate on how Haidar and Ahmad Fairuz are related to each other, but it is understood that Ahmad Fairuz’s late brother married Haidar’s sister.
Malaysiakini also learnt that the same issue was raised in chambers previously by certain party in the inquiry but the question of conflict of interest against Haidar was dismissed.
Previous claim rejected
When the inquiry kicked off on Jan 14, Anwar has also claimed there were conflicts of interest among three of the five commissioners - Haidar, former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim and former solicitor-general Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh.
Anwar’s lawyer Puravalen had then argued that Haidar was a trustee at the Perdana Leadership Foundation which is headed by ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was also a witness at the inquiry.
Another witness, Mahathir’s close ally business tycoon Vincent Tan - whose name was mentioned several times in the video clip - is also a trustee in the same foundation.
Another point raised by Puravalen was Haidar and Shim’s involvement as judges in the Raphael Pura defamation case where corruption claims in judiciary were ruled to be irrelevant.
Pura in 2000 had amended his claim to insert allegations that Lingam has written part of a judgment by late judge Mokhtar Sidin in another defamation suit who ruled in Tan’s favour.
The proposed amendments also included allegations that Lingam cultivated inappropriately close relations with former Chief Justice Eusoff Chin when their families were pictured together on holiday in New Zealand in December 1994.
When the case reached the appellate courts, Haidar sat in the Court of Appeal and Shim in the Federal Court. Both had ruled that amendments of Pura’s defence was made in bad faith and dismissed his claims.
Haidar however said there was “no valid grounds” for him to recuse himself.
Anwar, who first revealed the explosive clip in September last year, has failed in his repeated attempts to testify before the commission although the commission had subpoenaed him earlier.
The commission later decided there was “no need at this juncture” to call Anwar as witness.
In a letter faxed to the commission’s secretary Abdullah Sani Ab Hamid this morning, Anwar - through his counsel Sankara Nair - said there was conflict of interest for Haidar to chair the inquiry.
“(Anwar) takes objection to Haidar’s chairing and continue being a member of the royal commission by virtue of there being a likelihood of real or perceived bias and/or a conflict of interest in view of the indisputable fact that Haidar and Ahmad Fairuz (Sheik Abdul Halim) are close relatives,” the one-page letter stated. The letter added that Anwar has also appointed Sankara and senior lawyer Karpal Singh as his counsel to make the application to the commission when the inquiry resumes at 2pm today.
Apart from the duo, lawyer M Puravalen also acts for Anwar.
Ahmad Fairuz, former chief justice who retired last November, was said to be on the phone with lawyer VK Lingam in the scandalous judge-fixing video clip recorded in Dec 2001.
Fairuz - who was then the Chief Judge of Malaya, the judiciary’s No 3 - has appeared before the Haidar-led commission on Jan 28 and 29 as a key witness but has since denied he was the person talking to Lingam.
Anwar’s letter did not elaborate on how Haidar and Ahmad Fairuz are related to each other, but it is understood that Ahmad Fairuz’s late brother married Haidar’s sister.
Malaysiakini also learnt that the same issue was raised in chambers previously by certain party in the inquiry but the question of conflict of interest against Haidar was dismissed.
Previous claim rejected
When the inquiry kicked off on Jan 14, Anwar has also claimed there were conflicts of interest among three of the five commissioners - Haidar, former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim and former solicitor-general Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh.
Anwar’s lawyer Puravalen had then argued that Haidar was a trustee at the Perdana Leadership Foundation which is headed by ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was also a witness at the inquiry.
Another witness, Mahathir’s close ally business tycoon Vincent Tan - whose name was mentioned several times in the video clip - is also a trustee in the same foundation.
Another point raised by Puravalen was Haidar and Shim’s involvement as judges in the Raphael Pura defamation case where corruption claims in judiciary were ruled to be irrelevant.
Pura in 2000 had amended his claim to insert allegations that Lingam has written part of a judgment by late judge Mokhtar Sidin in another defamation suit who ruled in Tan’s favour.
The proposed amendments also included allegations that Lingam cultivated inappropriately close relations with former Chief Justice Eusoff Chin when their families were pictured together on holiday in New Zealand in December 1994.When the case reached the appellate courts, Haidar sat in the Court of Appeal and Shim in the Federal Court. Both had ruled that amendments of Pura’s defence was made in bad faith and dismissed his claims.
Haidar however said there was “no valid grounds” for him to recuse himself.
Anwar, who first revealed the explosive clip in September last year, has failed in his repeated attempts to testify before the commission although the commission had subpoenaed him earlier.
The commission later decided there was “no need at this juncture” to call Anwar as witness.
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