Malaysia
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Friday he will set up a Royal Commission to investigate a video clip allegedly showing judicial corruption, media reported.
The opposition and the Malaysian Bar Council had demanded a full inquiry into the eight-minute clip of a phone call in which a well-known lawyer purportedly tells a judge he will recommend him for a senior appointment.
Abdullah told state news agency Bernama the government had decided a Royal Commission was appropriate based on the findings of a three-member panel it had appointed to investigate the affair.
"We need to determine what the scope of the commission will be," he told Bernama.
Abdullah said the three-man tribunal set up to investigate the authenticity of the video would present their findings at a cabinet meeting next week, Bernama reported.
He said the members of the commission had not yet been determined.
Lawyers held a rare protest in September after dismissing an initial probe as inadequate and the Malaysian Bar Council hailed the latest decision as a victory.
"It's a good step and this is what we have been asking for," Bar Council Vice President Ragunath Kesavan told AFP.
He said he hoped the commission would be given a wide scope for their investigation so they could learn about the problems facing the judiciary and propose changes.
Dissident former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim unleashed a furore in September when he released the video clip.
Anwar was heir apparent to former premier Mahathir Mohamad until he was sacked in 1998 after being jailed for six years for sodomy and corruption.
The sodomy conviction was overturned but the corruption verdict stands, barring him from standing for public office until April 2008.
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