The Cabinet has ordered the attorney-general to immediately direct agencies to investigate on allegations levelled against six prominent individuals identified in the Lingam video clip. The six are former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, retired chief justices Tun Mohd Eusoff Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan and prominent lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam.

The six were among the 21 witnesses who gave evidence before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip.

The clip basically shows Lingam engaged in a conversation over judicial appointments with Ahmad Fairuz. During the 17-day hearing between Jan 14 and Feb 15, the public were privy to some explosive revelations.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Zaid, who is the de facto law minister, said today the government took into account the findings of the commission which had identified and decided that the 14-minute recording in the clip was authentic and recommended that appropriate action be taken against individuals identified and were said to have committed certain offences.

“Following these findings, there is possibility that offences against the law have been committed as stipulated in the commission’s report,” he told a news conference to announce that the government had decided to make the commission’s report public.
The five-man inquiry panel led by former chief judge of Malaya Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor in its report said there was sufficient cause to invoke the Sedition Act 1948, the Prevention of Corruption Act 1961, the Legal Profession Act 1976, the Official Secrets Act 1972 and the Penal Code against some of the principal individuals involved.

“We do not discount the possibility of other laws being contravened,” the report stated

The commission said the findings have, at the very least, provided the catalyst for further investigations so that, hopefully, there would be complete transparency and full accountability.

“This is absolutely essential if we are to wipe out once and for all the stain of that remark once made by Justice N.H. Chan in reference to the judiciary that ‘Something is rotten in the State of Denmark’,” said the report.

Zaid said the government took into account the findings of the commission which had identified and decided that the recording in the clip was authentic.

He said the report and recommendations were information and as such an investigation must be carried out.

Zaid said the Cabinet urged the public, including the media, to allow investigation process to proceed uninterrupted without undue pressure or any prejudice against any individuals identified in the report.