KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Former Lord President Tun Salleh Abbas and five ex-Supreme Court judges were paid a total of RM10.5mil as ex-gratia payment.

Of the amount, almost half went to Salleh, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abd Aziz revealed in Parliament yesterday.

Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abd Aziz

The minister also offered a twist to the story. He said the judges were not sacked or suspended.

Instead, they had been receiving monthly pensions of between RM4,815 and RM6,548.59 in the last 20 years following their early retirement.

"The ex-gratia payment is not the Government's admission of guilt. I wish to clarify that their services were not terminated.

"They have been given pensions for the past 20 years. Does that mean that they were considered guilty?" he said when asked by Wee Choo Keong (PKR - Wangsa Maju) on why the judges were given pensions.

He said Salleh was paid RM5mil, former Supreme Court judges the late Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawan Teh and Datuk George Edward Seah Kim Seng RM2mil each while Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohd Salleh, Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin and the late Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader received RM500,000 each.

Nazri said this in his reply during the committee stage.

He said the monthly pensions received by Salleh was RM5,102.16, Wan Suleiman RM4,815, Seah RM5,916.90, Eusoffe - last pension received prior to his death RM4,815, Wan Hamzah RM6,548.59 and Wan Azmi RM5,916.90.

"The ex-gratia payment is not about closure (of the 1988 judicial crisis). It is about moving on,?" he said.

Nazri said the pensions were given because they were given early retirement and not dismissals.

"They were not sacked, the Government told them to retire early.

"So they chose to retire and received their pensions," he added.

Khalid Abd Samad (PAS - Shah Alam) said there should be proper closure of the issue.

"The Government should admit that there was abuse of power against the judiciary," he added.

On the reason for revealing the ex gratia sum, Nazri said the compensation made to judges were taken from public funds and taxpayers had the right to know the amount.

He said the former judges' families had requested the Prime Minister to keep the sum confidential.

However, due to strong requests from MPs, the Government had no choice but to disclose it, he said.

When contacted, Bar Council vice-chairman Ragunath Kesavan said the payment was the right move.

"We have always championed the interests of the judiciary and not any one personality.

"As far as the Bar is concerned, 1988 was the lowest point in the judiciary. The ex-gratia payment showed acknowledgement that what happened then was wrong,?" he said when asked to comment on the fact that RM5mil was paid to Salleh after the Bar had championed the cause.

This was in the context of Salleh recently criticising the Bar for not giving him a waiver on his application to be a consultant to his own law firm.

"He (Salleh) has every right to criticise. That is his right,?" Ragunath said.