KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 ― Lawyer Arun Kasi wrote to the Chief Justice (CJ) and the Bar Council asking each for its view on Attorney General (AG) Tommy Thomas’s speech at the opening of the Legal Year 2019.
In the letter dated April 7, 2019, sent to Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, Arun had asked about the judiciary’s stand on the AG’s speech that asserted of corruption among the legal fraternity.
In a similarly dated letter to the Bar Council, Arun asked if the AG’s speech was within the boundaries of free speech as stated in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.
Both letters were extended to Malay Mail.
He excerpted portions of Thomas’s speech from the January 11 event.
“The administration of justice has not been immune from the cancer of corruption which spread in the conditions created by the former government.
“The scandals that involved judges, lawyers, prosecutors and litigants for at
least three decades since the Judicial Crisis of 1988 are too well known, and no reminders are required for this morning’s audience,” Arun quoted Thomas as saying.
He then asked if such remarks would qualify as contempt of court.
“The AG himself has in effect well said many times, including in the speech, there should be no double standards in enforcement of the law and that the law applies equally to all,” Arun added.
The lawyer is incidentally the subject of committal proceedings Thomas initiated against him at the Federal Court over published comments that allegedly scandalised judges.
He had on March 13 failed in his bid to set aside the Federal Court’s leave for Thomas to proceed.
Arus emphasised to Malay Mail that his questions to the CJ and Bar Council are distinct from his own case.
