MALAYSIA: The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip has found that it was former Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim who was talking to prominent lawyer Datuk VK Lingam on the telephone.

Sources said the five-man panel also found that the video clip was authentic and that the conversation was true in substance.

They said the commission also found that it was lawyer Loh Mui Fah who Lingam was speaking to after his telephone conversation with Fairuz.

Commission chairman 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 here yesterday (May 9).

The commission commenced its enquiry on Jan 14.

The sources said the commission also found that there was sufficient evidence of misbehaviour by certain persons mentioned or identified in the clip.

They said the commission found sufficient reason for the relevant authorities to take appropriate action against those implicated for breaches of the Sedition Act, the Penal Code, the Official Secrets Act, the Legal Profession Act and other laws.

They added that the commission was recommending the government set up a Judicial Appointments Commission and to undertake other necessary reforms.

Sources also said the commission stated that its report was not meant as an indictment against all judges.

Former Chief Judge of Malaya Haidar Mohamed Noor, who chaired the commission, said yesterday that the King was happy that the enquiry had been completed.

The other four members of the commission were former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim Lip Kiong, former Court of Appeal Judge and former Suhakam commissioner Mahadev Shankar, former Solicitor-General Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh and Professor Dr Khoo Kay Kim.

The video clip showing the apparent brokering of judicial appointments and promotions first came to light on Sept 19 last year when PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim released it at a press conference.

Anwar later released two more segments that showed Lingam telling Loh that he had been talking to Fairuz.

On Sept 25, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that an independent inquiry committee would investigate the authenticity of the video clip purportedly made in 2001.

The committee completed its report on Nov 6. It was studied by the Cabinet but never made public.

Based on the recommendations of the committee, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the setting up of the commission on Dec 12.

At the conclusion of the enquiry on Feb 15, the commission had heard testimony from 21 witnesses and received more than 100 exhibits and over 15 statutory declarations.

Among the prominent witnesses were former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, tycoon Vincent Tan and retired chief justices Eusoff Chin and Dzaiddin Abdullah.

The commission had first fixed March 11 to submit the report to the King but sought two one-month extensions later.