Man In Video Clip Is 100 Per Cent My Brother, Says Thirunama

The man speaking on the telephone in a controversial video clip allegedly brokering judicial appointments "is 100 per cent my brother Datuk V.K. Lingam", Lingam's younger brother V.K. Thirunama told the inquiry Monday.

Thirunama, 50, testified on the 13th day of the Royal Commission of Inquiry that he recognised that the speaker in the video clip was his brother from his body language, his movement and also from his voice.

He said Lingam talks very loudly and would get excited in his conversation.

Lingam is also inclined to use the now infamous phrase "correct, correct, correct" in his conversation, said Thirunama.

Here's the rest of the Bernama report:

Thirunama, an electrician, said he had heard the phrase "correct, correct, correct" being uttered by Lingam many times when he was working for Lingam.

Lingam had said in his testimony that the man in the video clip "looks like me, sounds like me".

He said he had worked with Lingam, who is his eldest brother, unofficially in 1995 and officially in 1996 with salary.

Thirunama also revealed that he had once answered a call on Lingam's handphone and the caller was former Chief Justice Tun Eusoff Chin.

He told the inquiry that he had driven and fetched Lingam from Eusoff's house.Lingam had gone to Eusoff's house with files, he said.

"I saw Lingam bowing saying `thank you my lord, thank you my lord'," said Thirunama, adding that at that time, Eusoff, Lingam and him were the only persons outside the entrance of Eusoff's house.

Thirunama said he had driven Lingam to Eusoff's house about seven to eight times.

He also said he had gone to Eusoff's house on his own to deliver a cake from a cake house, a briefcase and three bowls of soup.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry was set up to determine among others the authenticity of the clip.

Presiding the inquiry was a five-member panel headed by Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor.Other members of the panel are Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong, Datuk Mahadev Shankar, Puan Sri Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh and Prof Emeritus Datuk Khoo Kay Khim.

The commission's terms of reference are:

* To ascertain the authenticity of the video clip;

* To enquire and identify the identity of the person in the video clip, to whom he was speaking to and the persons mentioned in the conversation;

* To enquire and ascertain the truth of the content of the conversation in the video clip;

* To determine whether there is any misconduct by the person or persons identified or mentioned in the video clip; and

* To recommend any appropriate action to be taken against the person or persons identified or mentioned in the video clip if the person or persons found to have committed any misconduct.-- BERNAMA