Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim

Last updated

"Lingam Tape". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. See Also : Lingam Video Clip

On 19 September 2007, online daily Malaysiakini broke a story on a tape released by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, where senior lawyer V.K. Lingam was seen talking to someone believed to be the Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz. [3] The grainy eight-minute video footage was taken in 2002 at Lingam's Kelana Jaya house. At that time, Ahmad Fairuz was the Chief Judge of Malaya (judiciary's No. 3 post).

The video showed Lingam expressing concern that the outgoing CJ Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah was moving 'his men' into top judiciary posts. The conversation revolved around the urgent need to get Ahmad Fairuz appointed as Court of Appeal President (No. 2) and then Chief Justice (No. 1). Lingam expressed his plan to get tycoon Vincent Tan, a close ally of then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, and Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, a minister in PM's Department to talk to Mahathir on the appointment of judges. Allegedly, this was in return for Ahmad Fairuz's "suffering" in the election petition cases in the past where Ahmad Fairuz had ruled against the Opposition.

Following the revelation, over 2,000 lawyers heeding the call of the Malaysian Bar Council walked from the Palace of Justice to the Prime Minister's Department to demand the Prime Minister to set up a Royal Commission to investigate. On 17 November 2007, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that a Royal Commission would be set up to investigate the matter. Ahmad Fairuz denied his involvement, and Anwar responded that he "would love to see him (Ahmad Fairuz) defend himself in the dock as to whether he was lying." [4]

The Royal Commission's methods of arriving at certain conclusions, however, have been criticised by some. They claim that the alleged conversation was a monologue, and, therefore, the commission could not have reliably confirmed who was at the other end of the line. The Commission neither established that the phone call had come from Ahmad Fairuz, nor made a connection between the two, as even Lingam's secretary testified that to her knowledge Ahmad Fairuz had never tried to contact Lingam at his office.

Commission chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor presented a two-volume report on the findings to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin at the Istana Negara on 9 May 2008. [5]

Personal life

He is married to Mazni bt Mohd Noor and they have two children.

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

References

  1. Thomas Bell (1 September 2007). "Malaysia considers switch to Islamic law". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 October 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  2. Stefan J. Bos (30 May 2007). "Malaysia's Christian Joy Loses Islam Conversion Case". BosNewsLife.
  3. "Special Report: The Lingam tape". Malasiakini. 24 September 2007.
  4. Beh Lih Yi (29 September 2007). "CJs name mentioned in Lingam tape Pt 2". Malaysiakini.
  5. "Panel finds Lingam video clip authentic". TheStar. 10 May 2008. Archived from the original on 10 May 2008.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Semakan Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat". Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  7. "Carian Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat". eservices.kedah.gov.my.
  8. "SPMS 2003". awards.selangor.gov.my. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  9. Minister, Navy chief top State awards list. New Straits Times. 8 March 1988.
Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim
4th Chief Justice of Malaysia
In office
16 March 2003 31 October 2007
Legal offices
Preceded by Chief Justice of Malaysia
2003–2007
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia
2002–2003
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Wan Adnan Ismail
Chief Judge of Malaya
2001–2002
Succeeded by