A ROYAL Commission of Inquiry will vindicate judges who carry out their duties with integrity, says lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan.

“There are many judges who do honest work and carry out their functions with integrity, no doubt about that, but I still advocate for an inquiry to vindicate those who had carried out their functions properly,” she said at the Forsea Democracy Festival 2019 in Kuala Lumpur today.  

Ambiga was commenting on allegations of judicial interference and corruption by Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer.

She said mistakes of the past must be addressed before moving on to the future and a RCI will find out what the problems are.

“I believe in confronting the past before fixing the future so that we won’t repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

“You (have to) dig deep and find out what the problems are,” she said.

She said the RCI will also strengthen the judiciary as an institution.

“Institutions must operate to check abuse of power. I want a strong institution so it matters less who is in power,” she said.

Ambiga also said an RCI will hold those within the judiciary who allegedly abused their power for corrupt means responsible for their actions.

“The people must be able to trust that the courts are doing their jobs and are not being influenced by other parties.

“As the judiciary is a such an important institution, those undermining it must answer for their actions,” she said.

Hamid made the allegations in an affidavit that was filed in support of lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo, who is seeking a declaration that the chief justice had failed to defend the integrity and credibility of the judiciary. – February 17, 2019.