KUALA LUMPUR, 18 Nov 2008: DAP chairman Karpal Singh has demanded that Chief Justice Tan Sri Zaki Azmi step down within seven days over Zaki’s statement on corruption among court staff when he was a lawyer in 1987.
He said Zaki should not deny that he had uttered the words which were reported in the New Straits Times on 8 Nov 2008 as there was an audio recording of what he had said in Kuching the day before.
He said the clarification made by Zaki over the statement where he denied ever taking or giving a bribe, which was reported in the same newspaper on 9 Nov, did not constitute the truth.
Zaki was reported as saying that “it took me six months to be nice, bribe each and every individual to get back into their good books…”
“He is, therefore not a fit and proper person to hold the high office of Chief Justice,” Karpal told reporters at Parliament lobby here today.
Karpal Singh said that in the event that Zaki did not step down within the seven-day period, he would move a motion against him under Article 127 of the Federal Constitution.
The article reads: The conduct of a judge of the Federal Court, the Court of Appeal or a High Court shall not be discussed in either House of Parliament except on a substantive motion of which notice has been given by not less than one quarter of the total number of members of that House, and shall not be discussed in the Legislative Assembly of any state. — Bernama
