In my humble opinion it is not necessary to disclose the amount paid as ex-gratia to the former judges . They had suffered enough in the aftermath of the 1988 judicial crisis. Some of them had passed away. It would be suitable that the privacy of their families be respected as no amount of monies can ever compensated their sufferings. It is more appropriate to put a closure to the whole incident and not politicised it. At the end of the day what can be achieved by disclosing the amount of monies paid by the government?
PUTRAJAYA, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz believes that Barisan Nasional backbenchers and Opposition MPs' request for the government to reveal how much was spent on ex-gratia payments to six former judges was a valid one.
The six were involved in the 1988 judicial crisis
Nazri said he had spoken to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on the matter and it was being looked into.
"We should not hide anything. If we do not reveal the amounts it might be intrepreted in a wrong way...because we used the public's money," he told reporters after a ceremony to commemorate the Anti-Corruption Agency's 41st annivesary here today.
"They are judges...when they are doing their job they talk about how important transparency is and now it should be applied to them.
"In the name of transparency, the request (by the judges' families) not to reveal the amounts should not be used as an excuse not to do so," he added.
Nazri said he hoped to reveal the amounts in Parliament as soon as possible.
The former judges were former Lord President Tun Salleh Abas and former Supreme Court judges Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin, Tan Sri George Edward Seah Kim Seng, Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohd Salleh, the late Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader and the late Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh.
-- BERNAMA
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