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The second footage showed Mr V.K. Lingam, a prominent Malaysian lawyer, claiming to have bribed a top judge. -- PHOTO: NSTP
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KUALA LUMPUR - A FORMER Malaysian chief justice, who has been implicated in an alleged judicial corruption scandal, said on Monday that the video at the centre of the inquiry was a 'fabrication' and a slander.
A royal commission is investigating the secretly filmed video which showed high-profile lawyer V.K. Lingam purportedly speaking to Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, who at the time held the nation's number-three legal position.
In the tape, released by former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim last year, Lingam says he will push him for the nation's number-two legal post with the help of a businessman and a politician.
Mr Ahmad Fairuz went on to be appointed to the post and was then quickly elevated to the top position of chief justice. He completed his term and stood down last year.
'I think it is a slander,' he told the five-member panel in a packed courtroom.
'Two things crossed my mind,' Ahmad Fairuz said of his initial reaction on viewing the video, believed to have been filmed in December 2001.
'One, it was a fabrication and (two) that the person talking was trying to impress somebody,' he said.
Mr Fairuz said that last September he wrote to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and other senior ministers to deny all the allegations, which have cast doubt over the standards of the judiciary.
Mr Ahmad Fairuz said he did not know why Mr Lingam had mentioned his name in the video.
'Maybe he was trying to impress those people that he knows the prime minister, the chief justice of Malaya and well-known people,' he said.
The commission announced on Monday that Mr Anwar, who had been expected to testify, would not appear before the panel.
Earlier on Monday he released new video which contained further allegations, including of substantial bribes paid to a top judge.
The inquiry has run for two weeks and is expected to continue as witnesses are recalled for final submissions. -- AFP
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