New Straits Times
The younger brother of lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam has alleged he was privy to various acts of "corruption" involving judges.
V. Thirunama Karasu lodged a police report in March detailing his brother's alleged relationship with two former chief justices, several judges and a former inspector-general of police in the mid and late 1990s.
Malaysian Democratic Party secretary-general Wee Choo Keong released the police report at a press conference yesterday.
Among other things, Karasu alleged that he used to send his brother to a former chief justice's house just before midnight and pick him up an hour or so later and that he had delivered handphones and briefcases to several judges, adding he had paid the handphone bills of a former inspector-general of police.
Karasu, met at his house, said: "I did not give Wee consent to announce the police report. But the contents of the police report are true."
He said he was willing to testify before the proposed royal commission to investigate the Lingam video clip.
Asked why he decided to make a police report implicating himself and his brother, Karasu claimed it was a mixture of guilt and threats on his family.
Karasu, a former electrician with Tenaga Nasional, claimed he was asked by his brother to join the latter's firm in 1995 to run errands for him but he quit in 1996.
Earlier, Wee said Karasu contacted him 10 days ago by phone, claiming he had evidence in relation to the Lingam video clip which showed the lawyer allegedly discussing judicial appointments with a top judge.
"He asked for my help and explained it over the phone. But as it is an important issue, I persuaded him to meet me personally to discuss the details and that is when he gave me a copy of the police report.
"He is an important witness in the case and I revealed his identity to make sure the soon-to-be-established royal commission uses his statement in its investigation.
"Although this may be risky, the police and attorney-general already know of him and the report."
Wee described the contents of the police report as alarming and asked why the police and attorney-general had not acted as the report had been lodged eight months ago.
He said he would forward a copy of the police report to the Bar Council and the acting chief justice, urging them to take action. He also claimed that he had the unedited version of the Lingam video clip which showed the identity of the person who had made the recording.
He said Karasu was not the one who took the video.
Lingam could not be reached for comment.
Karasu's allegations
THESE are some of the allegations made by V. Thirunama Karasu in his police report dated March 19:
- He witnessed the handing-over of a cheque for RM50,000 to an Industrial Court chairman;
- He helped host a dinner at Lingam's house for a former chief judge of Malaya and his wife and children.
Also present were a former Court of Appeal judge and his wife;
- He was asked to deliver a new leather briefcase containing several documents, a wallet and a lady's leather handbag to the house of a former chief judge of Malaya;
- He had on several occasions sent Lingam to a former chief judge of Malaya's house at 11.30pm, from which Lingam would emerge around 12.30am or 1am;
- He was given cash to purchase a handphone for a former chief judge of Malaya.
The handphone was later delivered to the former chief judge of Malaya by a family friend;
- He delivered a handphone to a former judge in Kuala Lumpur and that the former judge had asked him for extra batteries for the handphone.
The handphone line was registered under the name of the former judge's wife;
- He sent a heavy briefcase to a Court of Appeal judge;
- He and a family friend were told to deliver two handphones to a Court of Appeal judge; and
- He was given cash to settle the handphone bills of a former inspector-general of police.
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