Federal Court finds Lingam's medical report forged

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has found that a medical report obtained by former lawyer Datuk V. K. Lingam from a hospital in the United States, to secure his absence in his contempt of court proceedings, was forged.
A five-man bench led by Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar, therefore, ordered Lingam to be present on Nov 8 to answer his contempt charge.
"This is our finding. The document is forged. We reject the postponement and will continue with the hearing," said Justice Suriyadi.
Lawyer R. Thayalan, who represented Lingam, stood up and informed the panel that he had no instructions to proceed with the case without his client's presence to which Justice Suriyadi said that it meant that his client (Lingam) was very confident the court will postpone the hearing.
"My client knows about the case. I don't want to get any disciplinary action for acting without his presence. Therefore, I discharge myself from representing him (Lingam)," said Thayalan, adding that he will inform Lingam that he has to be present on Nov 8.
Justice Suriyadi said Lingam must be present on that day and that if he did not appear, the court will proceed with the hearing without his presence as the court had given him ample time to be present in the contempt proceedings.
Earlier, Thayalan had said the medical report dated May 10 this year stated that Lingam was unfit for long periods of travel as he suffered a hip fracture and back pain.
Senior Federal Counsel Datuk Amarjeet Singh informed the court that based on the Immigration Department's records, Lingam had left Malaysia on Dec 23, 2013, and there was no record of him returning home.
He said the records showed Lingam had renewed his passport in London on June 14, 2017, a month after the medical report was issued.
"This means that he (Lingam) is fit to travel and can be present in his proceeding today," said Amarjeet who wanted the case to proceed.
Lingam and 24 others were cited for contempt of court four years ago, for claiming that a Federal Court judge had plagiarised his judgment in the case of Kian Joo Can Factory (KJCF).
In the same case, the panel also fined Lim Ah Eng, 88, and Doris See Siew Lian, 70s, who are minority shareholders of KJCF, RM100,000 each or eight months jail after maintaining their guilt of contempt.
Justice Suriyadi ordered Lim to pay the fine within 24 hours while See, who is in the United Kingdom, to pay the fine within one week.
On Aug 23, 2013, Lingam and 24 others failed to set aside their contempt charge when the court ruled that there was a prima facie case against them.
On Aug 7, 2014, the Federal Court allowed the Attorney-General to take over the contempt of court proceedings from the original applicants, KJH liquidators Ooi Woon Chee and Ng Kim Tuck who withdrew the charges.
In November last year, the Federal Court imposed a fine totalling RM2.15 million on another lawyer and 12 majority and eight minority shareholders of a company for contempt of court.
The legal dispute that led to the contempt proceedings in the case began in 2009 when the respondents went to the High Court after a rival company, Can-One International Sdn Bhd won the tender to purchase a 32.9% stake in KJFC.
The respondents failed in the High Court to stop Can-One from acquiring the shares.
However, the Court of Appeal reversed the decision.
The case was then taken to the Federal Court where a three-member panel of judges ruled in favour of the liquidators and the respondents filed a review, citing plagiarism in the court's written judgment, but it was dismissed by the Federal Court on May 22, 2013. — Bernama