KUALA LUMPUR: Former chief justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam could have clarified matters as soon as the video clip surfaced on the Internet last year.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry in its report, however, said both did not volunteer any evidence to the three-man inquiry panel to verify the authenticity of the video clip.

The initial panel, which comprised retired Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor, former Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mahadev Shankar and social activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, was formed on Sept 27.

The panel could not record any evidence from any party as no one volunteered any information. It was after this that the government decided to set up a five-man Royal Commission of Inquiry.

The commission also questioned what Ahmad Fairuz's excuse was for not taking immediate action to clear the air.
"He could have hauled up Lingam and demanded a public examination," the report said.

At the inquiry, Ahmad Fairuz denied he was the person at the other end of the line and had said the whole matter was a fabrication.

The report said the commission could not accept Ahmad Fairuz's evidence that he did nothing after watching the clip on the grounds it was unclear and he was unsure that the image of the Indian man was Lingam.

"The whole country had no doubts who the person was," the report said, adding that a news portal (Malaysiakini) had carried a full report in which Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim made serious allegations against Ahmad Fairuz.

The news portal also released the full transcript of the clip between Lingam and Ahmad Fairuz.

The report said all Ahmad Fairuz did was to enclose the transcript to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Aziz.

"He took no further action except to sit back and wait it out," the report said.

The commission also pointed out that Lingam did not come out with a public denial that the person in the clip was him.

"Both the principal actors in the phone conversation had gone off the public radar screen," the report said.