©The
Star (Used by permission)
by Soon Li Tsin
Royal commission member Mahadev Shankar today refused to
recuse himself from the inquiry, charging that the application made to seek his
recusal was attempted to scuttle the hearing into the Lingam tape.
On Wednesday, lawyer Hazman Ahmad, who is representing former chief justice Mohd
Eusoff Chin, one of the key witnesses in the inquiry, made a written
application, citing Mahadev’s ‘relationship’ with lawyer VK Lingam as the
grounds for the application.
Today the grounds were disclosed to the commission - that Lingam had arranged
for an eye specialist from the Mayo clinic in the US to fly in from Bangkok to
treat Mahadev’s eye condition.
Lingam is also said to have foot the bill for the accommodation of the
specialist and his family here in Kuala Lumpur.
“This is all false. All my medical expenses for my eye disorder were paid by the
government,” said Mahadev.
“The medical records will prove this,” he added.
