KeADILan’s Badrul just misses VK Lingam at MACC

A stark reminder to the MACC of its duty to buck up on the prosecution of big-time cases such as the Lingam Tape incident

By Wong Choon Mei, SK

Lawyer VK Lingam – at the centre of the country’s most notorious judge-fixing scandal – was caught going into the just-opened Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters this morning, saying that he went to apply for the release of some ‘documents’.

His surprise and totally unexpected appearance almost coincided with KeADILan leader Badrul Hisham Shaharin’s scheduled press conference held at the front of the building just a while earlier.

The KeADILan supreme council member had kicked off the New Year for the Pakatan Rakyat by lodging a report with the MACC. He submitted a 60-page document alleging corruption involving Umno leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, and other senior government officials.

Lingam, who was immediately swarmed by reporters, was however tight-lipped when questioned on the purpose of his visit.

“These are documents that I previously gave to the Anti-Corruption Agency. They are looking to arrange for the documents to be released and be given back to me,” said Lingam, declining to tell if the documents were in connection with the infamous Lingam Tape incident.

“I don’t think I have to go into the details,” he said.

Time for the MACC to prosecute

The Lingam Tape incident refers to a video clip exposing alleged tampering in the appointment of judges for key cases.

It sparked a huge wave of public anger, forcing Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the matter that implicated former premier Mahathir Mohamad and five other prominent men.

The Commission recommended that action be taken against them, saying there was enough evidence to investigate them all for offences under the Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act, the Penal Code and the Legal Profession Act 1976.

The now-defunct Anti-Corruption Agency had completed its investigation last year, but the Attorney-General has yet to announce if it will prosecute Mahathir or any of the other five.

The five men are senior lawyer Lingam, tycoon Vincent Tan, Barisan Nasional and Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor and former Chief Justices Eusoff Chin and Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

Litmus test for the MACC

According to Badrul, this underscores the importance of testing the will and sincerity of the MACC to go after the ‘big fish’ and not just the ‘small fry’ – which the ACA was notorious for doing.

“Fair enough if in the past they say they didn’t have the power, now we give them the chance and the space to prove their words,” Badrul told Suara KeADILan.

He had earlier made history of sorts by submitting the very first corruption report to the MACC.

The 32-year old KeADILan leader said he handed over documents of three different categories to the graft buster.

The first involved past cases the ACA had said it could not pursue because it did have the necessary prosecution powers. The second alleged corruption and money politics among top Umno leaders and the third involved graft cases among senior government officers.

“We are doing this as a test for all Malaysians who want to see what sort of MACC the Barisan Nasional government has put in place,” Badrul said.

“All the cases we have given them are very clearly stated and simple to solve, they just require courage to act,” he added.

Supposedly modelled after Hong Kong’s ICAC, the MACC was established to replace the ACA under a reform bill pushed through by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last month.

Although hyped as giving the graft-buster independent powers of prosecution, the MACC Bill nevertheless fell flat, drawing fierce criticism from the public, including the Bar Council.

Instead of achieving its objective of reducing the influence of the executive and preventing ruling politicians from swaying corruption crimes – civil groups and the opposition say the MACC Bill now hands even more power to the prime minister-of-the-day.