The new Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi’s revelation of two recently retired judges who were suspected to be corrupt is shocking not because of the admission of rotten apples in the judiciary but only that it was made publicly in so specific a fashion for the first time.
That there are corrupt judges in the judiciary has long been an open secret, which had been more than amply proved by the “correct, correct, correct” Royal Commission of Inquiry into the V.T.Lingam videotape.
This is one reason why Malaysia had suffered the plunge of our judiciary’s international reputation as a world-class institution, propelled by two decades of judicial darkness and scandals when the independence, impartiality and integrity of the Malaysian judiciary became an international laughing-stock.
Speaking at the panel on “Integrity, the Catalyst for Sustainable Development” at the national integrity convention in Kuching yesterday, Zaki said about the two corrupt judges:
He said he knew the two judges personally.
The question is whether the two corrupt judges “were gone” when he became Chief Justice last month or when he was elevated to President of Court of Appeal on December 11, 2007, three months after he made the triple jump from the private sector to be appointed Federal Court judge straightaway?
If the former, then the question arises why he did not set in motion the establishment of judicial tribunals to impeach these two corrupt judges in the past 11 months.
Secondly, why hadn’t he reported the two corrupt judges to the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) as the crime of corruption has neither time bar nor statute of limitations?
Zaki’s expose should prompt the ACA to immediately open investigations on the two recently retired judges who were corrupt to make public examples of them for betraying their oath of judicial office.
It was only early this week that the new Penang ACA director Latifah Md Yatim said that the ACA has been investigating corrupt allegations from all sources including newspaper reports and poison pen letters as long as there is basis.
Speaking to reporters after officially taking over the director’s post, Latifah, who was previously the ACA director of Sabah for about two years, said “there is now no excuse not to give information” and that the public should never be afraid to come forward to make reports.
There should be no need for the ACA to advise Zaki not to be afraid or that there could be no excuse for him not to give information to the ACA on the two recently retired corrupt judges.
In Kuching yesterday, Zaki also confessed that he had succumbed to the culture of corruption when he recounted his “first-hand experience of having to face corruption problems in the court”, as reported by New Straits Times report, “Stop it now, corrupt court staff warned” :
“What I am telling you is not fiction but based on my own experience in private practice,” he said at an integrity convention here.
Recalling an incident in 1987, Zaki said he was “blacklisted” when he complained to the chief registrar of two missing files belonging to his clients.
“It took me six months to be nice, to bribe each and every individual to get back into their good books before our files were being attended to.
“That was my personal experience, and I am telling this to all the clerks and all the registries to stop this nonsense and I know this is happening, even as late as last week… a lawyer came to see me.”
He added that the clerk asked the lawyer to come the next day to collect the file after saying “tapi jangan lupa, ya”, signalling him to come with cash.
Is Zaki prepared to spearhead a crusade to clean up the corruption and malpractices at all levels of the judiciary, by giving personal attention to all complaints about corruption, malpractices and abuses of power at all levels of the judicial hierarchy?
#1 by melurian on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 10:49 am
a good cj does not need scapegoats and red herrings, especially a cj with tainted reputation…..
#2 by undergrad2 on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 11:05 am
“It took me six months to be nice, to bribe each and every individual to get back into their good books before our files were being attended to.” Zaki
This public admission of his role in bribing government officials is shocking to say the least! Everywhere else he would be disqualified from ever holding the office of judge – let alone that of Chief Justice!!!
#3 by undergrad2 on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 11:12 am
It is common knowledge among lawyers that court officials were paid to ‘lose’ files! They don’t throw the files away but would ‘lose’ these files by moving them to where they could not be found readily. Why do you think the office Zaki spoke of was always in a mess?
When the files were finally found, damage would have been done. In some cases, the files had to be put together. One postponement after another and in some cases witnesses disappear, memories fade, court transcripts lost etc.
#4 by veddy.lum74 on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 11:14 am
wow,even clerks can do wonders!
every corners of govt. departments are creating chances for small fish to ‘cari makan’,the ‘ikan besar’ eat big ones,and it’s quite ‘fair’ also for them to allow their small fish to corrupt,so that everyone ‘sama-sama untung’!!!
UMNO,Judges,they are untouchable!or probably they will pay 15% bribes to ACA to settle!so,sama-sama untunglah!
#5 by passerby on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 12:04 pm
What are you complaining about? You are the Chief Justice and don’t tell us you don’t know what to do?
#6 by mata_kucing on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 12:23 pm
This is an admission that Zaki himself is involved in corruption. YB Lim is shocked but I think most Malaysians are not.Missing files is one of the oldest trick in the book. I remember a murder case in Kuching involving a businessman. He was obviously guilty as hell but when the case came up, his case files went missing. Today the guy is still walking around and living it up in style. There are so many cases involving murders which have been thrown out of the window because of corruption involving the highest echelon in the judiciary. In this country, you have money you have power. And when you have power, you live the live of an emperor.
Does Zaki admission means that he can also be bought over for a price with money or position?
#7 by undergrad2 on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 12:37 pm
It is as much a crime for a giver of bribes to bribe public officials as it is for someone to solicit them!
Or is it??
#8 by undergrad2 on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 12:40 pm
Sec. 10 (2) Anti-Corruption Act 1997.
So is this a public admission of wrongdoing by our top judge???
#9 by undergrad2 on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 12:42 pm
Sorry 10(b) – corruptly offers or gives…
#10 by yhsiew on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 12:50 pm
From what Zaki confessed and by his inaction, it is hard for Malaysia to see light in the tunnel of judicial darkness!
#11 by BrianFong on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 12:51 pm
while i laud the frankness of the new CJ in admitting to having paid bribe and knowing 2 corrupt judges I would also like to know what he intend to do about it?
firstly – isnt it a crime to not report about corruption?
secondly – isnt it a crime to pay bribes?
on this two count – what indemnity does the CJ has if the ACA and the AG is to investigate his pronouncement?
if no – why isnt the ACA and the AG initiating any action against such frank admission in public arena?
can ordinary citizen talk about paying bribes to any government agency and not feared being prosecuted from now onwards?
can parliamentarians ask for a judicial review to investigate the CJ for his failure to report the 2 suspected corrupted judges and his bribe paid to the clerks?
since losing a file means no case – isnt there a procedure whereby if a file is lost by a clerk – the clerk should be sent to jail?
this is all so unreal as if we are in a banana republic.
#12 by AhPek on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 1:00 pm
undergrad2,
What to do, this is Bolehland and that’s why he is still sitting pretty there after his confession!The system is so rotten to the core that the question to ask is whether there is any possibility that this mess be cleaned up so that we’ll have a CJ who has absolutely no skeleton hidden behind his closet!
#13 by waterfrontcoolie on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 1:05 pm
Now! now! it is said openly by the highest lvel of the judiciary! what do you expect? Is this new? Certainly not.
I used to know an ex-classmate who was a clerk in the State Secretariat and he rejected all promotions over the year: just for the reason that he could do the very thing mentioned by the CJ! But don’t think the private sector is free of such behaviour! One day, I met an ex-colleague who was in the shipping industry. Out his office, this lady was waiting. She was an executive in charge of shipping of her company; likewise she rejected all attempts by her boss to promote her to another section as a manager!
Of course to those who are ignorant, you might ask why? As the shipping executive she could decided where to book her shipping requirements and meant kick-backs! As a manager, her increment of evn five hundreds per month meant little to her then.
By the way, how do we judge them?
#14 by AhPek on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 1:14 pm
Why does Tan Sri Zak Azmi accept first the position of President of the Court of Appeal and also after that the Chief Justice of Malaysia knowing that he has given bribes to get things done? Isn’t he aware that these positions demand the highest integrity from the holders of these positions,that they have to have an impeccable clean bill?Looks like he doesn’t know!!!
#15 by AhPek on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 1:31 pm
Or pretends not to know??
#16 by frankyapp on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 2:02 pm
My dear mata kucing,not just files are missing,even our indian friend is missing.What more do I have reveal ?. This is bolehland .
#17 by ahoo on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 2:34 pm
Can’t understand why he is bringing all this up now ? Is he warning those clerks to stop it or face the music ? Well, let the people be the judge as the days go by. I’d read in a blogger site that this same man was involved in a marriage scandal years ago. Married someone half his age by using the thai method without his wife’s knowledge and later call it off after the issue became too hot to handle. Can someone more knowledgeable out there search the archive and confirm this ?
Are we in safe hand ? We will have to wait and watch like a hawk. At the same time the people must speak out without fear to tell the govt that if there are no changes to benefit the people then the people will not hesitate to vote for change of govt.
#18 by jus legitimum on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 2:38 pm
We are living in this land governed by hypocrites,scumbags,cheats,scoundrels,the mediocre.the idiotic and the half past six.All these bums are sustained by plundering the rich but fast depleting natural resources of the land.
#19 by Godfather on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 2:49 pm
Aiya, let bygones be bygones lah….there is no sense in prosecuting those who have now retired and could do no further harm. This is the UMNO way. Look at Mamakthir – he is singlehandedly the most corrupt and abusive PM ever, and he is still singing like a canary – with plenty of supporters !
You know, I know, and we wink at each other lah….and we cry over our teh tarik.
#20 by Godfather on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 2:53 pm
Who is going to reopen the books on Rafidah ? Or on Nazri ? Or on Semi Value ? Or on Ling Liong Sik’s role in the PKFTZ scandal ? The thieves were all on the same boat, they all took part in the looting, and now they wink at each other as they live their lives in the luxury of their mansions.
#21 by Godfather on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 3:11 pm
UMNO goes to such extraordinary lengths to plant this guy at the top post of the judiciary and now you guys want him investigated ? You guys want him to quit ?
#22 by Jimm on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 3:39 pm
do be conned by him ….. this guy is as evil as his master .
actually, he is sending messages to those that cases are still as good as things can be to prepare ‘payments’ for him to ‘KIV’ these files.
umno malays are never ever a great national heroes , they are only ‘robbers’ that also robbing from their internal network.
‘kuli’ the worst loser that umno could ever have , is the culprit that started corruption with his state logging back in the 70s.
the rest of the pack .. wolves among the sheeps ..
the best thing is they are now super-rich and no law can bring them down.
with a little bit of their wealth , they can ‘buy’ as many malays supporters as they wish .. it’s like going pasar malam with RM10,000 in your pocket.
I believe that rakyat are under a lot of stress in catching up with life style especially the malays whom umno supposed to help ever since merdeka.
malays are the most ‘unfortunate’ people in Malaysia as their livinghood have been chart since the day they were born.
All the policies about them have been ‘carefully’ planted by umno.
Their education and also career were ‘painted’ by umno too.
Even their religion laws that ‘control’ their emotional life are being dictated by umno.
so, we are less ‘unfortunate’ than our malays ..
the parents have no choice but to send their children to be groomed by umno as their ‘slaves’ and ‘workers’.
where else can their children go ?
what kind of future can their children have , if not following umno?
with a little flash of monies as windfall , these children don’t mind to called their leader “tuan” even when their leader are wrong.
money … money … money … we are all brought up as money making machines for umno…
we are truly enslaved ourselves and also teaching our children to follow our footsteps , to be even better.
so, welcome to the world of reality , umno slaves ..
you know what : we asked for it … therefore we received them
#23 by sikui on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 6:23 pm
You don’t get what you deserve, untill you get to know how and what to negotiate; this is the present CJ. In this country is filled with willing people; some willing to bribe, the rest willing to let them. Why? cos this country is a Bolehland run by you know who.
#24 by DontPlayGod on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 7:04 pm
This is similar to what happens in the Land office. File get “missing”. You are often told to come back later, maybe a week or a month later. But if you give the required “incentive”, your file will re-appear.
What is going on in this country? Looks like it is going Zimbabwe’s way.
#25 by LBJ on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 7:10 pm
Now that Zaki is in the position to clean, give him a chance.
If he does not does anything, then whacked him. Throw him to RPK.
He will tear him to pieces (figuratively).
#26 by Kasim Amat on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 7:25 pm
What Zaki said is totallty untrue. He is based on his own experience 20 years ago which does not trully reflect the situation of the judiciary practice today. He should not criticise his own colleagues in public and this is uncalled for. We feel that it is a grave mistake to have him appointed for the post of Chief Justice if he continues to be so indiscreet in his word. As a Chief of Justice, he should know the line and should not over cross it. Malaysia’s judiciary system has been functioning and serving people well except that some people are trying to undermine it with improper comment out of personal jealousy and greed.
#27 by Godfather on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 7:40 pm
Oooooo…..what Zaki said cannot be true, for if it is, then UMNO is in trouble, for loose tongues sink ships. Yes, Kasim my bisnes partner, go to Mike Tyson and tell him to tape the mouth of UMNO’s Chief Justice.
#28 by Godfather on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 7:43 pm
Our judiciary system is excellent, our education system is excellent, our police force is the best, our civil service is the best, our corruption level is acceptable compared to Ghana and Zimbabwe.
OK, OK, Kasim, where are our APs ?
#29 by Jeffrey on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 9:28 pm
I knew it was too good to last or to be true!
Just when everyone hailed Justice Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad’s decision to free RPK as a landmark one for civil liberties and that it bodes well for our judiciary being seen taking the corner towards “rehabilitation” from Executive interference, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar- who earlier said that the government accepted the Shah Alam Court decision – now made an about-face turn to say that the government would be appealing against RPK’s acquittal.
This is very disconcerting.
Appeal means the state is vying for a second chance to lock the accused up.
Although Prosecution always has the right to appeal against an acquittal, especially when it is not in the interest of society to let lose a criminal on technicalities, yet in RPK’s case, he is, by consensus, not a criminal : he is viewed not a threat to society but perhaps a threat to only some people in power.
His incarceration has been met by wide spread public disquiet and his subsequent release celebrated with jubilation.
Under such circumstances why is the state, which duty it is to prosecute on behalf of public interest and to public benefit and protection vying for a second bite of the cherry to reverse a pro- civil liberty decision delivered by Shah Alam Court that the public celebrate?
This may have negative political repercussions for the ruling govt. as many might view such an appeal against a pro-democracy verdict as part of an anti democratic campaign from the higher echelons of govt to relentlessly hound the victim until he is secured behind walls for good.
In such times, more than ever, RPK will look to the courts especially appellate courts to act as bulwark for his civil liberty rights against encroachment and prejudice by the all powerful state.
In view of our new Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi’s recent revelation of judicial corruption, what is he prepared to do – who are the judges he would assign for the task – to ensure that the appellate hearing of the State’s appeal against RPK will not only be fair, but also “seen” by the public and civil society as being fair to RPK???
#30 by raven77 on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 11:03 pm
In short…this country needs a new government….the faster the better……we need to lock up dangerous criminals like Albar, etc before it’s too late….
#31 by HJ Angus on Saturday, 8 November 2008 - 11:37 pm
It is sad that the government has no regret about using the ISA. Even the Home Minister was rather callous about it, claiming the release was the court’s business.
That is the problem with the ISA – Too much power and almost no accountability on the part of the Minister.
In a more civilised nation, a motion to censure the Minister would be moved for abuse.
What am I talking about? This is MALAYSIA!
http://malaysiawatch4.blogspot.com/2008/11/malaysiakini-and-new-chief-justice-new.html
#32 by undergrad2 on Sunday, 9 November 2008 - 12:24 am
“It took me six months to be nice, to bribe each and every individual to get back into their good books before our files were being attended to. That was my personal experience….”
Bribe court officials to do the right thing? Like to locate ‘lost’ files? How about ‘losing’ files when the case is scheduled for a hearing? Involving UMNO related matters or clients?
It may not fall foul of the letter of the law under Sec. 10(b) Anti-Corruption Act 1997, but your public admission of bribing or giving financial incentives to public officials so they would do the job they were supposed to do is the other side of the same coin. You placed these clerks on your payroll and that is the wrong thing to do. You should have brought it up to the authorities.
In some other jurisdictions this is enough to disqualify you from the position of Chief Justice.
#33 by ringthetill on Sunday, 9 November 2008 - 1:26 am
Action speaks louder than words. Now that the CJ is aware and has personal experience of bad practices and corruption within the judiciary, I hope he will weed out these people soon. Please mean what you say and say what you mean. We have already have enough of people in high places who for some reason are afraid to deliver.
#34 by Jeffrey on Sunday, 9 November 2008 - 2:04 am
Here we assume corruption is wrong: since a corrupt act includes giving as well as taking a bribe, both giving as well as taking a bribe by itself is wrong. That is one dimension.
The other dimension raised by Zaki is whether one could right the first wrong committed by corrupt court officials and clerks (ie. taking bribes from opposite litigants/defendants to lose files and deny his clients just redress) by bribing them to rectify/redress that wrong done against his client ie to restore justice to his clients.
Which raises the paradoxical question : can one right a wrong by doing wrong? Or put it another way can one do a wrong thing for the right reasons ? Or it is the other case that there is no way one can ever do right by doing wrong….
The ethical conundrum presented by Zaki is that he is faced with a corrupt body of court officials and clerks whose attitude he could not change. They had, he suspected, taken bribes from opposite litigants/their lawyers to deliberately misplace the court files so that the hearing before the judge could never proceed – because for it to proceed, the file with all the transcripts and notes must be retrieved, made available and placed before the judge for him to hear the case and arguments. Now it looked as if forever the relevant file would be given a run around for decades during which time his clients would never get redress in court.
Implied are the further assumptions on his part that if he were to do the right thing by complaining the laches of the court officials/clerks to the Court Registrar, and desisting from bribing, it would not ameliorate the situation in the sense that the Registrar of Court would not be able or perhaps willing to get to the bottom of things to punish the culprits or prevent this misplacement from further recurring, in which event things might get worse if the culprits retaliated by targetting his firm and, whether or not they got bribed or not, deliberately lose all court files in which one side was ever represented by his firm.
So perceiving an absence of other practical alternatives he bribed the court officials/clerks so that they would undo the wrong thing against his client earlier perpetrated.
This raises interesting hypothetical situation. To start off one does not bribe a police or judge for any personal gain. However someone unscrupulous bribes a policeman to arrest him or the judge to convict him (even if by law and facts he is innocent) for that someone’s own gain. Now assuming that nothing the victim does or could reasonably do (besides upping ante of a bigger bribe) could make the policeman or judge change their course of going to fix him up nice and good. Would he be wrong to “wrongfully” bribe the policeman or judge to re-purchase back their neutrality which had earlier on been wrongfully “bought” by the other side, in circumstances where assuming there are no other right options?
These are a paradoxical philosophical questions relating to ethics – “Can one right a wrong by doing wrong?” “Or can one do a wrong thing for the right reasons ?” “Or is it that there is no way one can ever do right by doing wrong ?” – raised by Zaki in his expose.
#35 by undergrad2 on Sunday, 9 November 2008 - 8:46 am
Right is right and wrong is wrong. This is a question easily answered if moral is the only issue. However, when it comes to the law, that’s when it gets a little blurry! Most times it would depend on your judicial philosophy.
Would it be right to allow same sex marriage? Would it be right to take a human life for whatever reason? Would it be right to ban capital punishment? Would it be right to ban all manner of abortion or just late term abortion? When does life begin? Should we ban stem cell research? These are matters of judicial philosophy.
Corruption is always wrong morally and legally. Why is corruption morally wrong? Even reprehensible? The answer is in the question. Because it corrupts.
When dealing with inefficient, lowly paid, corrupt public officials, some feel offering financial incentives would be akin to dealing with forces of demand and supply – demand and supply of public services. Or is it just that? Taking them out for dinners is customarily acceptable. Japanese business men make their rounds of the town’s karaoke bars at the end of the day to reciprocate the goodwill shown and return favors. Should public officials be held to a higher standard because they are public officials? The answer is “Yes” because their activities involves the use of power entrusted to them by the public. Where do you draw the line when entertainment stops and corruption as a process begins?
#36 by undergrad2 on Sunday, 9 November 2008 - 8:49 am
When you see your friends who run a chain of nightclubs entertainig police officers to lavish dinners, what do you think is happening?
#37 by Bigjoe on Sunday, 9 November 2008 - 9:02 am
The most ridiculous statement to say that he will not hear UMNO cases. What does that mean even? Does it include cases involving UMNO/BN members? That would be about 90% of the cases pending…
#38 by undergrad2 on Sunday, 9 November 2008 - 10:34 am
“Malaysia’s judiciary system has been functioning and serving people well…” Kasian Amat
Tell me you’re joking!!
#39 by Godfather on Sunday, 9 November 2008 - 10:45 am
Kasim Amat’s not joking. Our judiciary is regarded as a strong pillar of our society, and we are ranked in the top 100 of countries in terms of judicial independence. Never mind that the ranking is for 140 countries only – we are still in the top 100.
#40 by AhPek on Sunday, 9 November 2008 - 7:16 pm
“Malaysia’s judiciary system has been functioning and serving people well..”. Kassim Amat.
That must be forced out from that other end of his,much like the way when one passes very hard stool!!!
#41 by taiking on Monday, 10 November 2008 - 1:08 pm
Typical umno style. Always make great sounding proclamation before firing. Has any PM or minister not make such proclamation before? After firing, ah itu soal lain.
#42 by frankyapp on Monday, 10 November 2008 - 1:46 pm
Yes kasim amat,our judiciary system has indeed been functioning and serving the rakyat well but on whom ? Tell me who benefited ? The poor,the humble,the ordinary citizens or the rich and powerful and the UMNO/BN politians and their cronies.The Lingan case is an excellence example.