Lawyer Karpal Singh has denied lodging any complaint with the Chief Justice Office to investigate the plagiarist judge issue, expressing surprise at the latter’s decision today that the complaint had no merit. “It is clear from the correspondence exchanged that I had not made a complaint to the chief justice (CJ) for an investigation.
“I am surprised that the chief justice has stated that after an investigation, there is no basis to my complaint which has been dismissed pursuant to section 13(1) of the Judges’ Code of Ethics, 2009,” said the senior lawyer in a statement this afternoon.
Karpal also questioned the CJ for citing the Code of Ethics, 2009 as the alleged act of plagiarism took place in 2000 prior to the code, saying the “code is not retrospective in operation”.
The DAP national chairperson and Bukit Gelugor MP explained that his communications with the CJ’s Office had merely been to respond to the latter’s enquiry on his correspondence with the errant judge on the issue.
He said he initially sent letters dated Aug 22 and Sept 29 to the judge, Abdul Malik Ishak, expressing his intention to move against him in Parliament, which were later forwarded to the CJ and the president of the Court of Appeal because he felt the matter was “of serious concern to the judiciary”.
This prompted the CJ’s office to write to Karpal on Oct 13 asking for specific information about the issue, including case references and contents of the allegedly plagiarised judgement.
The lawyer replied with the reasons for the parliamentary motion and a copy of the motion, but the motion later lapsed.
“By letter dated Dec 7 to the CJ, I indicated that the motion under Article 127 in Parliament had lapsed on Dec 1, and therefore could not be discussed, leaving me no alternative but to seek other measures to resolve the matter,” said Karpal.
Karpal said his latest move was to write an open letter on Dec 27 challenging Abdul Malik to either resign or file a defamation suit against him in seven days, failure being taken as an admission of guilt.
“Abdul Malik has the option to sue me for defamation before the ultimatum I have given him in my open letter expiring on Jan 3. The ball is in his court. Let us see how he deals with it.”
Earlier today the CJ's Office had announced that they had found "no merit" to Karpal's alleged complaint about the judge.Karpal had earlier called on the said judge to resign over the plagiarism allegations.
According to the lawyer, the errant judge had, plagiarised a former Singapore judge GP Selvam’s judgment as his own, ironically over a case of copyright.Karpal added that the law minister at the time, Rais Yatim, had publicly admitted that he knew about the plagiarism allegations in 2000.
“It is surprising that the minister on his own admission did not take any step to direct a proper investigation despite having had four years to do so! That appears to be the quality of our ministers!” he said.
Peguam Karpal Singh menafikan telah membuat sebarang aduan kepada Pejabat Ketua Hakim Negara supaya menyiasat isu plagiarisme terhadap seorang hakim, serta menyatakan rasa terkejutnya dengan keputusan siasatan bahawa aduan tersebut tidak mempunyai merit.
"Adalah jelas daripada surat-menyurat bahawa saya tidak membuat aduan kepada Ketua Hakim Negara (CJ) supaya dijalankan siasatan," katanya dalam satu kenyataan hari ini.
Karpal berkata, beliau terkejut bahawa Ketua Hakim Negara menyatakan berdasarkan siasatan yang dijalankan menurut Seksyen 13 (1) Kod Etika Hakim 2009, dakwaan plagiarisme seperti yang dibangkitkan oleh peguam itu tidak mempunyai merit dan aduan tersebut ditolak.
Dalam satu kenyataan petang ini, Karpal juga mempersoalkan Ketua Hakim Negara merujuk kepada Kod Etika Hakim 2009 kerana perbuatan plagiarisme itu berlaku pada tahun 2000, sebelum kod itu diwujudkan, sambil berkata "kod itu tidak retrospektif".
Karpal yang juga pengerusi kebangsaan DAP dan ahli parlimen Bukit Gelugor menjelaskan bahawa komunikasi dengan Pejabat CJ hanyalah semata-mata respon kepada pertanyaan pejabat berkenaan berhubung suratnya kepada hakim berkenaan, berhubung isu tersebut.
Sebelum itu, pegawai khas 1 kepada Ketua Hakim Negara, Che Wan Zaidi Che Wan Ibrahim, dalam satu kenyataaan hari ini, berkata siasatan yang dijalankan oleh Ketua Hakim Negara mendapati dakwaan Karpal itu tidak mempunyai merit dan aduan tersebut ditolak.
Sebelum ini, Karpal menggesa Hakim Mahkamah Rayuan Datuk Hakim Abdul Malik Ishak supaya meletakkan jawatannya berikutan dakwaan plagiarisme.
Pada 4 Oktober lalu, Karpal mengemukakan usul mengikut Perintah-Perintah Tetap 27 yang dibaca bersama dengan 36 (8) dan Perkara 127 perlembagaan persekutuan, yang mahu dibentangkannya di Dewan Rakyat.
Menurut Karpal beliau sendiri telah menulis kepada hakim kanan itu pada 22 Ogos lalu dan memberi beliau masa selama tujuh hari untuk menjawab dakwaan berkenaan.
Karpal kemudiannya menulis sepucuk lagi surat pada 29 September lalu dan memberitahu hakim itu bahawa sekiranya tiada jawapan diberikan beliau akan mengandaikan ia sebagai pengakuan salah laku.
source:malaysiakini
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