Bastian Pius Vendargon, who predominantly does civil and commercial cases, said he had consistently told such clients there was no such thing or arrangement.
“I have told them that as lawyers, we will do our best, based on the facts and law to get a favourable verdict,” said Vendargon, who has been in practice for about 40 years.
The lawyer was responding to an FMT report that a special officer to Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat had lodged a police report against another senior lawyer for allegedly bringing the judiciary into disrepute.
Sepang district police chief Wan Kamarul Azran Wan Yusoff said the report was made on June 7 and an investigation is under way.
Sources told FMT the lawyer apparently sent several text messages to a foreign client, with one stating “the path is covered till the CJ”.
It is learned that the messages were in connection with two civil appeals pending before the Court of Appeal.
Vendargon said clients approached lawyers as they were expected to know judges well as they frequently appeared in court.
“So it is quite important for us to tell our clients that being familiar with a particular case or regularly appearing before a particular judge does not mean we discuss our cases outside the confines of the litigation process,” he said.
Lawyer R Kengadharan said he had no personal experience but had only heard stories from other colleagues of clients finding ways “to fix and win” civil cases that ran into millions of ringgit.
“To me, this is a scandalous activity as it will lower the esteem of the bench in the eyes of the public,” he said, adding that lawyers, as officers of the court, had a role to protect the integrity of the judiciary.
Kengadharan said clients must understand it was not the end when a case is lost in the trial court as decisions could be reversed during appeals before a larger bench.
Lawyer A Srimurugan, who mostly does criminal trials and appeals, said he too had come across accused persons asking him if there was a way for the authorities to drop their cases.
“They want to use lawyers to ‘settle’ the case via the investigating officer, the prosecutor and finally the courts.”
He said he told clients that he would only use his legal and advocacy skills to seek acquittals or reduce the charge to obtain a lesser sentence.
Srimurugan said such public perception was aggravated due to touts who promised accused persons that they were in contact with lawyers who they claimed knew those in authority.
Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar Al-Mahdzar said lawyers could not guarantee any decision or judgment in their clients’ favour.
He said the perception that an outcome could be fixed was the result of rumours and poison pen letters in the past that some judges were susceptible to influence.
“This was obvious during the royal commission of inquiry into the VK Lingam video clip where the roles of several past chief justices were revealed,” he said in reference to the investigation into allegations of illegal intervention in the appointment of judges.
Former chief justice Mohamed Eusoff Chin (1994 to 2000) was also called before the commission. He denied he was a close acquaintance of lawyer Lingam even though he went on vacation with him to New Zealand.
The commission, in its report, made several findings and recommendations against the lawyer, ex-judges, politicians and a business tycoon, but nothing came out of it.