KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 — The lawyer VK Lingam issue returned to dominate the debate in the Dewan Rakyat today after Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz tabled the Judges’ Ethics Committee Bill 2008 for the second reading.
Nazri in his reply to allegations and criticisms from opposition lawmakers in the House, said the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip case and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission found that no crime had been committed.
The appointment of judges, which had purportedly been arranged by Lingam, was actually made in accordance with the Federal Constitution, he said.
Nazri’s reply, however, did not go down well with Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who deemed it as belittling the House.
He said the issue on Lingam was raised through the Perwaja Steel Report in 1995 and that he was disappointed the way the case was handled.
To this, Nazri spontaneously stood up and said: “If the Honourable Member as the deputy prime minister then could not solve the issue, then how could I solve this?”
Nazri’s retort drew laughter from several MPs. Anwar then stood up and apologised.
He also expressed his sadness for failing to solve the problem and hoped the new government would be able to do it.
Nazri said if Anwar wanted to help resolve the case, he needed to be sincere.
“If you want to help, you must really help, don’t help to bring down the government. If the government falls, I won’t be able to solve this problem,” he said.
Earlier, Nazri said the Bill was drawn up to enable action be taken against judges found to have violated their professional code of ethics.
The Dewan Rakyat sitting continues tomorrow. — Bernama
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