Sunday May 18, 2008
Guan Eng: Review cases decided by Eusoff, Fairuz
PENANG: Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has called for an immediate review of cases decided by former Chief Justices Tun Eusoff Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, after the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the V.K. Lingam video clip held they were involved in a conspiracy to manipulate the appointment of judges.
He said the review would be the most appropriate way of restoring the integrity of the judiciary.
Lim said the focus of the probe, if Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail were to order one, should be mainly on Eusoff and Ahmad Fairuz because as judges they carried a higher responsibility.
Lim was speaking to reporters after presenting rice aid to 2,013 welfare recipients at the Caring Society Complex here yesterday.
“I was one of the those affected by the decisions made by these judges,” he said, referring to his 18-month jail term for sedition in 1998 for complaining that the A-G did not prosecute a former chief minister for statutory rape.
Lim was asked to comment on the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry, which held there was evidence that lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Eusoff, Ahmad Fairuz and former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad were involved in a conspiracy to manipulate the appointment of judges.
The Cabinet agreed with the commission's proposal that the A-G's Chambers investigate allegations against the six.
Gani said he would have to go through the report in detail before deciding whether to order a probe.
Lawyer for PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said on Friday that the former deputy prime minister would be seeking a review of all his court cases heard by the two former top judges.
In Kuala Lumpur, Law Asia president Mah Weng Kwai said he felt that it was a good idea for aggrieved parties to apply for a judicial review to reopen old cases.
Acting Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said a Judicial Complaints Tribunal or a similar mechanism should be introduced to provide a simple and accessible channel for the public to lodge complaints, saying it “was an arduous and cumbersome task now”.
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