Sri Ram’s departure during Anwar’s sodomy appeal a coincidence, says law firm
V. Ambalagan, The Malaysian Insider
The departure of Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram as consultant from Messrs. Soo Thien Ming & Nashrah in the midst of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy appeal was a coincidence, the law firm said today, denying that they were pressured to ask the retired judge to leave.
“No authority or any organisation has pressured our firm in whatever way. We did not pressure the consultant. It was a friendly arrangement,” the firm said in a statement.
It said the firm and the consultant still worked together in cases where there was no conflict of interest in legal matters or clients.
The firm also said it took offence at the disparaging “cold feet” remarks in an article as they were a professional firm and not involved with any political party, referring to The Malaysian Insider report on Friday that Sri Ram was forced to leave the establishment in the midst of Anwar’s appeal hearing.
The report which quoted a source said it was unclear whether Sri Ram was ordered to pack off due to outside pressure applied to the firm as he was appearing for Anwar in a high-profile case or the partners had cold feet seeing their consultant having a direct role in the case.
The former Federal Court judge joined the legal firm soon after retiring from the bench in 2010.
