THE government will consider establishing a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to look into allegations of judicial impropriety, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

“I am not in the position to say anything, if there will be an RCI.  We will study the proposal first,” he said in Kuala Lumpur, today.

Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer yesterday filed an affidavit alleging judicial misconduct in the past and calling for an RCI into the cases.

The call for an inquiry was backed by the National Patriots Association (Patriot) and Lawyers for Liberty, which said it is the only way to find out if the sitting judge is speaking the truth.

Hamid filed the affidavit in support of lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo’s application to declare the chief justice had failed to act on cases of judicial interference.

Hamid said in the sworn statement that the judges in the Federal Court are “largely tainted”.

Among his explosive allegations are that senior members of the judiciary had aided private parties to defraud the government.

He also used the term “judicial rowdies” and “hit squad” to describe the judges who had helped to ensure that the court decisions swing the way of the government of the day.

Two such cases he named were Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal at the Court of Appeal in his sodomy case and PKR politician Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad’s freedom of assembly case.

“There are judges of integrity, as well as competence, in the Court of Appeal and high court, including judicial commissioners.

“I cannot say the same for many of the apex court judges of the past and present, as they knew of wrongdoings and did not lift a finger to stop the massacre in the administration of justice. 

“This is continuing unabated, even after the change of government, as there is sufficient material to purportedly say top judges are continuing to mislead the public by conniving not to expose judicial crimes,” he said in his affidavit.