The latest episode stems from the statutory declaration by lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon dated Nov. 9, 1998 which annexed his letter dated Oct. 12, 1998 to the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah, making very serious allegations against the integrity of senior deputy public prosecutors Datuk Abdul Gani Patail and Azahar Mohamed, in connection with the "creation" and "extortion" of evidence.
Although High Court Judge, Justice Datuk S. Augustine Paul cancelled the warrant of arrest for Manjeet after the lawyer apologised to the High Court and the Attorney-General for the inconvenience caused from an application filed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, using his statutory declaration, what is most significant is that Manjeet did not retract the contents of the statutory declaration or apologise to Datuk Gani Patail and Azahar Mohamad for the serious allegations against them.
Public interest in Manjeet’s statutory declaration is not in whether it had been used without his knowledge or authority, but in the serious allegations it contained which if true, amounted to a serious miscarriage of justice or in Manjeet’s own words in his letter to the Attorney-General when he posed the question: "How far into your Chambers the corruption has spread I cannot say but that you will have to stop it goes without saying".
Two years ago, public confidence in the system of justice was rocked by the 33-page pamphlet of a High Court judge making 112 allegations of corruption, abuses of power and misconduct against 12 judges, which was hushed up with the High Court judge allowed to resign instead of an open trial.
The time has come for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to restore public confidence in the integrity of the system of justice in Malaysia so that Malaysians can feel proud that the administration of justice in the country is second to none in the world.
(5/12/98)