THE Malaysian Bar Council has welcomed the offer by senior lawyer Karpal Singh to accept the challenge posed by the Prime Minister’s Department by volunteering to prosecute Datuk V.K. Lingam. Council chairman Ragunath Kesavan(picture left), when contacted by Malay Mail, yesterday said it was a good move by Karpal to offer his expertise in such a case.
Since the Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had mentioned that his office was looking for volunteers to prosecute Lingam, the challenge was open to any practising lawyer with the expertise. Nazri challenged anyone, including Karpal, who could provide him with a relevant section in Malaysian law to charge Lingam — who was implicated in the 2007 videoclip showing him apparently making deals over the appointment of judges.
“It was an open challenge, therefore it could have been anyone, if not Karpal. Since Karpal has the specialty in this case, he should be given a chance as this is not a new thing, where a lawyer in private practice is allowed to prosecute a case for the State,” he said.
However, Ragunath said Karpal will still need to get permission from the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.
Karpal had volunteered to take on the challenge issued by Nazri, who on Tuesday said his office was looking for volunteers to prosecute Lingam, at no charge.
Karpal, after accepting the challenge, yesterday urged the AG to authorise him to act for the government over the issue as Nazri had also said that he would speak to the AG if someone was willing to prosecute Lingam.
In making his suggestion, Karpal said he would charge Lingam under Section 4 of the Sedition Act, which carries a maximum penalty of RM5,000 or three years’ imprisonment or both.
He also wants a written consent, as required under Section 5 of the Sedition Act, to prosecute on behalf of the State and also the investigation file into the video clip affair.
Nazri was quoted last week as saying that Lingam had not broken the law for allegedly lobbying for the appointment of judges and that there was no provision in the law to say that those caught doing so had-MMail
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