Audio tape on Zaki's 'corruption' surfaces

DAP stalwart Karpal Singh today revealed an audio recording allegedly of Chief Justice Zaki Azmi admitting that he had bribed court staff.

The opposition leader played the recording for journalists during a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

According to Karpal, the recording was of Zaki's speech at a convention in Kuching last November on 'Integrity, the Catalyst of Sustainable Development'.

The recording, which is of poor quality, was said to consist of the part where Zaki talked about bribing court staff when he was a lawyer.

On Nov 8 last year, Zaki, who is also head of the newly-minted Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), was quoted by the media as saying that in 1987, he had been "blacklisted" when he complained to the chief registrar about two missing files.

Zaki had allegedly said, "It took me six months to be nice, to bribe each and every individual to get back into their good books before our files were attended to."

"That is my personal experience, I am telling this to all the clerks and all the registries to stop this nonsense."

Karpal has refused to reveal where he had obtained the recording from, saying, "I will only reveal it at an appropriate time."

Ever since his appointment as the head of the judiciary, Zaki has come under constant fire from the Bukit Gelugor MP, who strongly believes that he is not fit to be chief justice in light of his open admission of having indulged in corrupt practices during his days as a practising lawyer.

Zaki, however, has previously clarified the matter, claiming that the media had misinterpreted his comments at the Kuching conference.

Karpal, also a lawyer by training, today accused the police of double-standards for delaying investigations against Zaki following a police report he lodged on Nov 13.

"The police have yet to record my statement which clearly shows no investigation has been directed into my report," he added.

Karpal, however, claimed the police had wasted no time in investigating him in relation to the avalanche of police reports filed against him in response to his intention to file a legal suit against Perak ruler Sultan Azlan Shah.

"Within two days, the police started looking for me. Why should there be double standards now?"

Karpal’s son and fellow DAP colleague Gobind Singh Deo who was also present at the press conference today, suggested that Zaki step down as both chief justice and head of the JAC while investigations are being carried out.

"The police now have no excuse not to investigate the matter," added the Puchong MP.

Karpal urged Zaki to step down voluntarily, failing which he said he would call on the Conference of Rulers to meet in an emergency session to "withdraw their consent to Zaki’s appointment as chief justice to pave way for his removal".

"This should be done in the public interest. Zaki’s position as chief justice has become untenable," he said.

AUDIO RECORDING l 29 secs

Due to the poor quality of the recording, please refer to the following transcript when listening to the audio file.

"It took me six months to be nice, to bribe each and every individual to get back into their good books before our files were attended to."

"That is my personal experience, I am telling this to all the clerks and all the registries to stop this nonsense."