C J Tun Ahmad Fairuz & Tengku Adnan Already Questioned by now newly Attired ACA Officers; Oct 29 Panel Meet - to avoid Bar Council
== == == = == = = == = == =Anwar's answer: No way, ACA! Beh Lih Yi | Oct 24, 07 4:53pm and ACA Boss is also NOT backing out with a dire warning "action will be taken against him"
Tun Fairuz, Tengku Adnan Among Those Questioned By ACA
All questioned?
The statements were recorded before the Hari Raya. "All the 10 had given good cooperation in this matter," he said tonight. "Now the ACA only needs the original unedited version of the video clip to facilitate the investigation." Ahmad Said said that any individual including former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim with an original copy should deliver the video clip to the ACA.
Anwar has until tomorrow to hand over the original copy of the video clip, failing which he could be charged under Section 22 of the ACA Act which carries a fine of not more than RM10,000 or a jail term of not more than two years or both, upon conviction.
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ACA Must Maintain Its Good Name - Abdullah
PUTRAJAYA, Oct 24 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi said the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) should maintain its good name at all times. He said ACA officers were entrusted with a heavy responsibility that should be carried out efficiently with fairness and honesty. Abdullah, who is also Internal Security Minister, said this during his visit to the ACA headquarters here today. He told reporters later that the ACA officers looked smart in their new uniforms, worn for the first time during a parade today.
ABOVE PM Abdullah & ACA Boss inspecting the BELOW "smart" officers in their new "smart" uniforms but not very smart to catch the corrupted big fish. Change of uniforms means more kickbacks to replenish the finished duit raya.
Meanwhile, ACA director-general Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan said the agency would go after those believed to have been involved in the mismanagement of funds highlighted in the Auditor-General's Report irrespective whether they were "small fish or big fish." "We're not selective. We'll go after everybody," he told reporters. He brushed aside suggestions that ACA was only going after the "small fry" after 10 people, including nine civil servants, were charged in Kota Kinabalu, Kota Baharu and Raub courts with mismanagement of public funds. Ahmad Said said such cases had to be initially referred to the Attorney-General's Chambers before the individuals involved could be charged in court.
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PUTRAJAYA: The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) needs to view the original full-length version of the "V.K. Lingam video tape", but it doesn't have to retain it. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz suggested this in response to the refusal of those who brought the tape to light to hand over the original recording of the telephone conversation between Lingam and, allegedly, a senior judge. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has until tomorrow to submit the video clip for the ACA's inspection. "If he (Anwar) doesn't want to hand over the original, I believe the ACA can ask him to play the original for them and once it's over, he can take it back," Nazri said yesterday. " It's not necessary for them to keep it." Nazri was commenting on an ACA directive to Anwar to produce the original video clip by Thursday or face imprisonment or a fine under Section 22 of the ACA Act. He said Anwar had a key role to play in determining the authenticity of the tape pending further investigations. The ACA was tasked with investigating the video's authenticity on behalf of a three-man panel established by the government after the recording, allegedly showing lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam on the phone with a senior judge, became public.
The panel, headed by Tan Sri Haidar Mohd Noor and comprising Datuk Mahadev Shankar and Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, had been given 30 working days from their appointment on Sept 27 to complete their investigation and to report to the prime minister. No one has come forward to volunteer information so far, despite assurances from Nazri that their identities would be protected. Despite this, Nazri said the government still had no plans to call a Royal Commission of inquiry into the video clip until its authenticity could be verified. "The video clip is akin to a '
= == = == == Background info
OPINION: Arrogance standing on stilts in quick sand Contributed by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng , from Malaysian Bar;
Video Tape Panel The decision of the independent three-man panel to sit in session on Oct 29 – the opening day of the 14th Malaysian Law Conference – seems to be intriguing.
Is the panel trying to avoid meeting the Bar Council when it is public knowledge that the Prime Minister will deliver the keynote address at the Malaysian Law Conference witnessed by the entire Bar Council leadership? Only the Immaculate Misconception will never know that all Bar Councillors will be busy on such a red-letter day for the Bar. The avoidance view is reinforced when it is known that the Bar Council had written to the panel on Oct 8 seeking a meeting on Oct 10. On that exact date, the panel replied, requesting a list of the issues to be discussed. Two days later, the Bar Council sent the list. It is unclear if the panel has responded.
What is the point of the panel stating publicly that it would meet all interested parties on Oct 29 then when by its very overture so far, it prefers to perform a solo dance? Is that a typical ajak-ajak ayam (an invitation not intended)?
The decision also appears to be a display of arrogance mounted on stilts standing in quick sand, and tantamount to turning a simple job into a complex operation. I had written earlier of danger: the discourse of the Malaysian Bar for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the video clip and a Judicial Commission for the appointment and promotion of Judges may well be captured.
The video clip, since called the Lingam Tape Scandal, first penetrated the public pale on Sept 19 and showed veteran lawyer discussing Judge and case-fixing with a senior Judge, now popularly believed to be incumbent Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz bin Sheikh Abdul Halim. Since then, calls have mounted for the resignation of Tun Fairuz who has so far denied through Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz. Amidst undermining the Doctrine of the Separation of Powers in our democracy, Nazri, as a member of the Executive, has since repeated the denial of this top officer of the Judiciary – even in Parliament.
Lingam has since gone into Plato’s metaphorical cave where silence seems to be the ultimate form of communication among the esoteric. No threat of defamation is heard from this lawyer who is widely known to specialise in the law of defamation. When the video clip first surfaced, the Malaysian Bar, through the Bar Council, had responded immediately by calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry, a call which certain Cabinet Ministers, including Nazri, immediately shot down in a mounting war of words over the next few days.
The verbal exchange resulted in an escalation when the Bar Council was virtually forced at its emergency session on Sept 22 to call for a “Walk for Justice” on Sept 26. On Sept 25, the very eve of the “Walk for Justice,” Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak announced the formation of an independent panel chaired by former High Court of Malaya Chief Judge Tan Sri Haidar Mohamad Noor. The two other members are former Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Mahadev Shanker and “social activist” Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye.
Analysts see the timing of the announcement of the panel’s formation as an attempt to pre-empt the “Walk for Justice” which nevertheless resulted in an unprecedented number of 2,000 lawyers of all races from the young to the very old walking the 3.5km distance from the Palace of Justice to the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya despite the Courts all over West Malaysia holding their normal sessions.
No power
Lawyers taking part in the “Walk for Justice” knew that besides other weaknesses, the independent panel had no powers to compel and protect witnesses. They were told that the Bar Council was still prepared to work with the panel whose job is confined to just verifying the authenticity of the Lingam Video Tape.
Indeed, on Oct 8, the Bar Council wrote a letter to the panel seeking a meeting on Oct 10, on which very day the panel replied asking for a list of issues to be discussed. The Bar Council replied on Oct 12, and so far it remains unclear whether any response has been received.
Now comes the intriguing announcement that the panel will be sitting on Oct 29. Oct 29 is known by almost every lawyer worth his or her salt to be the very first day of the 14th Malaysian Law Conference that will be opened by Sultan of Perak and none other than Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will deliver the keynote address.
The entire Bar Council leadership is expected to attend the opening of the conference that is expected to attract the participation of between 400 and 500 lawyers. So what is intriguing about the panel’s sitting on Oct 29 is probably its reluctance to allow the Bar Council to have any inputs in its proceedings. Of course, there is no stopping other analysts from suggesting that the decision seems to be a display of arrogance mounted on stilts standing in quick sand.
Indeed, one analyst threw several rhetorical questions: “Isn’t it clear that they want to exclude the Bar Council? Doesn’t setting pre-conditions and all the subsequent silence show that they are erecting barriers which are not even necessary? And now, picking this absurd date! Isn’t that arrogance?
“What is comical about this stance is that they forget that they were appointed on the eve of the ‘Walk for Justice’ to pre-empt that event. Here’s where the stilts are: The panel’s very pedigree is suspect. Instead of opting to protect and enhance the panel’s legitimacy by inviting participation, they obstruct it,” the analyst added.
Another analyst embellished the “quick sand” part of the statement by stating that the panel’s very independence should be beyond reproach. “What they are doing is very political, not at all independent; it tantamounts to turning a simple job into a complex operation. I guess Malaysian politicians have come a long, long way from the simple kampung (village) approach; we are now into twin towers!”
My take on the Lingam Tape is still to climb on my hobby horse of preventing the capture of the Malaysian Bar’s discourse on the video clip and the Judicial Commission. Just look at how they stretch things, even time. The panel interpreted their initial one-month deadline as a 30-working-day deadline!
I would have thought that in the normal scheme of things, one month from Sept 25 means one calendar month ending on Oct 24. But no, now the one month, if the panel’s ruling is right, is 30 working days.
“Nice try,” would have been the instantaneous response of St Peter if and when I try indulging in such an interpretation at the Pearly Gates. But then, two of them are former top Malaysian Judges and none of the merely human trio bears any resemblance to the biblical divinity of St Peter.
Malaysian lawyers must continue singing the Thomas Jefferson song that “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Better still: etch “EV” in our individual mind. Forget about ET, that extra-territorial whatever. Just etch “EV.”
= == = = Do you need the FULL Original Video Clip to check the authenticity??
When any video clip (original or NO original) is tempered, they leave "tell-tale" overlapping images. A check on a 30 sec Lingam Video Clip reveals no such tempering.
Go H E R E for details on
Authenticated - 30s Sample Analysis Lingam Video Clip Contents Not Tempered; ACA DG demands Full Video Clip from Anwar Ibrahim otherwise No action; Initial 8 mins Cut Video Clip is said to be edited and believed tempered
ABOVE: the features in editing of a video clip and BELOW: the Split images (30 frames per sec) reveals NO discontinuity or overlapping of inserted or doctored images
MORE PICS – Najib Blowing Trumpet in
Below: The 2nd lady in waiting woke up late and forgot to comb her hairdo for the ceremony??
= == = =and some new pics on the Spaceman
ABOVE: He had to be placed on reclining chair when he was pull out from the capsule as he was danging almost upside down for 20 mins and BELOW - he had not much to eat in space that he was immediately given a Big apple to munch to boast up his energy level
posted by multidimid at 9:59 AM
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