Friday January 25, 2008

Lingam was bragging

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk V.K. Lingam told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into a video clip purportedly showing him brokering judges’ appointments that he was only bluffing about talking to former Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

The lawyer said this in reply to a question by Ranjit Singh, counsel for the Malaysian Bar, who asked him why he told businessman Loh Mui Fah (whose son recorded the video) that he was talking to Ahmad Fairuz.

Ranjit Singh: You said you are known to talk rubbish if you had one too many drinks. That day, even if you were tipsy, why did you discuss the appointment and brokering of judges?

Jovial mood: Lingam waving as he arrives at the court complex to testify yesterday.

Lingam: This was in my house, in the privacy of my room. My house is my castle. I’m the king of my house. I can talk whatever rubbish I want in my house, as long as I don’t get drunk outside and misbehave.

Ranjit Singh: Why did you choose the topic of brokering of judges’ appointments as your topic of rubbish in the presence of Loh Mui Fah and son?

Lingam: I can choose to talk about whatever topic I like. I can even pretend to talk to President Bush.

Ranjit Singh: Why did you say to Loh that you were speaking to Ahmad Fairuz?

Lingam: I cannot recall I said that. Even if I did, I’m sorry to use this word, but I was bulls****ing and bragging.

Ranjit Singh: Are you suggesting, that in part of the transcript you were bragging?

Lingam: It could be bragging. It could be bull****.

Lingam disagreed with Ranjit Singh’s contention that he had mentioned the name of a judge who heard a case involving Loh and his father (Loh Kim Foh) during the phone conversation in the video.

Ranjit Singh also asked Lingam if his claim of intoxication was based on what he saw in the video clip.

Lingam then replied that he could see two bottles of wine, two boxes of whisky and one whisky bottle in a photo that was taken together with the late lawyer Manjit Singh.

He added that the amount of alcohol was “quite a lot to drink for two to three people that night.”

Ranjit Singh: The bottles may look like whisky and look like wine but they might not be.

Lingam: They appear to be bottles of wine to me and I was sipping from a wine glass.

Earlier, Lingam was also grilled by Robert Lazar, counsel for the Bar, over his denial of having a phone conversation with Ahmad Fairuz as alleged in the video.

Pointing out that no one had mentioned any names, Lazar asked him to clarify why he had volunteered the immediate past Chief Justice’s name when he had claimed that he could not remember whom he was speaking to.

Lingam replied: “It’s so widely reported in the press and Malaysiakini reported that it must have been Ahmad Fairuz. It was already in the public domain since Sept 19 last year. I want to tell the truth and make it very clear.”

Lingam also disagreed with Lazar’s suggestion that, based on plain reading of the transcript’s content and context, he could have been speaking only to Ahmad Fairuz.

Commission chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohd Noor also asked Lingam if he knew why Loh and his son were willing to testify that it was him in the pictures and in the video if they were his social friends.

Lingam replied that he did not know the reason but said that if the two had believed the video clip was authentic, they would have reported it to the authorities.

“They would have gone straight to the police and the Anti-Corruption Agency and said this guy was brokering judges' appointments, charge him. They kept it for around five or six years...,” he said.

At this juncture, Haidar interjected to stop Lingam’s elaborated reply.

Towards the adjournment of the inquiry, commissioner Datuk Mahadev Shankar also questioned Lingam on his reluctance to confirm the identity of the man in the video.

Mahadev: You do not dispute that the person is you?

Lingam: I do not dispute that.

Mahadev: But when it comes to the video taken on the same occasion, you said that it might not be me, it could be me, it could be somebody else.

Lingam: No, no, no. My learned commissioner, you did not get it right. I said it looks like me, it sounds like me but I will not say 100% that it’s me. The authenticity must be established by my two experts.

Mahadev: You do not want to say that it’s 100% you. How many per cent would you say it’s you?

Lingam: I do not want to get into a mathematical argument with the learned commissioner but my experts say the local expert’s report is fundamentally flawed and defective. Let my experts first be called. I don’t want to close the door without hearing my experts first. If my experts say it’s me 100%, I will be the first one to say it. I’m not denying it’s me.

Haidar: We have an expert’s report and two witnesses with direct evidence saying this is what happened.

Lingam: I just want to hold that position until my experts testify. I’m not saying it’s not me, don’t get me wrong.

The hearing continues today.

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