The Lingam video clip inquiry report should be made public, Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor, Chairman of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 14-minute controversial V. K. Lingam Video Clip, said today.

He, however, said it was up to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to decide whether the contents of the report be revealed to the public or otherwise.

"Personally, I think the report should go to the public, but it is up to the Prime Minister," he told Bernama after handing the four volume 186-page report to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin at Istana Negara.

The former Chief Judge of Malaya said he was satisfied with the findings of the 17-day inquiry which started on Jan 14.

Haidar said the five-member commission could not divulge the contents of the report but would recommend to the Prime Minister for the report to be made public.
"We also cannot reveal the four recommendations the commission had made in the report," he said when asked whether the commission would disclose its recommendations to the public.

He said commission secretary Datuk Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid, who is also Director-General of the Legal Affairs Division in the Prime Minister's Department, would submit the report to the prime minister.

To a question that one of the commission's recommendations was to charge a few individuals in court, Haidar said it was not true.

Asked on why the commission had sought two extensions to submit the inquiry report to Tuanku Mizan, he said the commission needed more time to scrutinise the report as there were over 1,000 evidence to go through.

The commission had earlier fixed March 11 to submit the report to the King but later sought two one-month extensions which end tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Abdullah Sani said in a statement that Haidar submitted the report at 9.30am in the presence of four other commission members.

They are retired Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mahadev Shankar, former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Amar Steve Shim Lip Kiong, former Solicitor-General Datuk Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh and historian Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim.

The commission was set up in late 2007 to ascertain the authenticity of the video clip featuring senior lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam brokering judges' appointments over the handphone.

Twenty-one witnesses testified in the inquiry including former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and three former chief judges.