THE government will decide on Friday whether to make public the Royal Commission of Inquiry report on the V.K. Lingam tape, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim said yesterday.

He said there was a possibility that the report would be made public.

"We have published other royal commission reports in the past," he said at the parliament lobby.

He also said the findings of the commission are not classified as official secret.

The report, which comes in four volumes comprising 186 pages, had been submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.



The Royal Commission members are former chief judge of Malaya Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor who acted as chairman, former appeals court judge Datuk Mahadev Shankar, former Sabah and Sarawak chief judge Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong, former solicitor-general Puan Sri Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh and historian Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim.

The Royal Commission was formed to verify the authenticity of the video tape purportedly showing lawyer Datuk V.K Lingam on the phone brokering judicial appointments with a senior judge.

Twenty-one witnesses including former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and three former chief justices testified in the 17-day inquiry starting on Jan 14.