Apex court finds VK Lingam's medical report forged

A medical report purportedly issued by a hospital in the United States, cited by senior lawyer VK Lingam to support his absence from a contempt proceeding here, was forged, the Federal Court found today.

The report, dated May 10, this year, said that Lingam, 66, was unfit for long durations of travel, including by flight, as a result of a hip fracture and back pain he suffered.

The apex court made the finding after senior federal counsel Amarjeet Singh from the Attorney-General's Chambers, said that based on a search by the Immigration Department conducted this morning, it was found that Lingam had renewed his passport in London on June 14, this year – a month after the medical report was issued.

"Lingam left the country on Dec 23, 2013, and there is no record of him returning to the country," said Amarjeet, who also wanted the court to proceed with the contempt case, despite Lingam's absence.

Lingam, who was implicated in judicial fixing by a Royal Commission of Inquiry in 2007, was cited for contempt four years ago, for claiming an apex court judge had plagiarised his judgment in the Kian Joo Can Factory (KJCF) Bhd case.

The review application of the Kian Joo case came after some of the appellants claimed that the judge in the unanimous decision wrote a judgment, which they claimed was plagiarised.

This was, however, dismissed by another panel led by then Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria.

The finding of the fact today came about after Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar (photo) and four other judges on the bench questioned how Lingam could renew his passport while overseas.

While the bench realised that a person can renew the passport in the Malaysian embassy overseas, they also noted that if the passport was less than six months of the expiry date, overseas travel would normally be prohibited.  

The other judges were Abu Samah Nordin, Ramly Ali, Azahar Mohamed and Balia Yusof Wahi.

Earlier, Lingam's counsel R Thayalan told the court that he is unable to explain how Lingam had obtained the medical report or had travelled to renew his passport.

"My communication with is through email, where he had applied to seek a postponement due to his medical condition. He wants to come back to face the charges himself."

When the court said it was pressing on with the contempt proceedings, Thayalan sought to discharge himself from the case, saying he has no instructions to represent Lingam.

Justice Suriyadi then allowed Thayalan to discharge himself from the case and fixed Nov 8 for the hearing of the contempt proceedings against Lingam, with or without the senior lawyer's presence.

The same bench also today fined two minority shareholders of the KJCF, namely Lim Ah Eng, 88, and Doris See Siew Lim, in her 70s – RM100,000 fine each, or eight months jail, after maintaining their guilt of contempt.

Justice Suriyadi ordered Lim to pay the fine within 24 hours, while See, who suffers from dementia and is in the United Kingdom, was given a week to pay the fine.

“Some of the words used are harsh against the judiciary and they cannot bend over backwards as public interest has to be given consideration,” the judge said.

In November last year, the Federal Court fined 12 majority and eight minority shareholders of the KJCF RM100,000 each, while a lawyer acting for the latter was fined RM150,000, in default of one years' jail.- Mkini