KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the V. K. Lingam videoclip controversy that he could not remember why he dropped two lawyers' names from the list for appointment as High Court judges in late 2001.

He said that even though he didn't ask for feedback, people did give him their views on candidates for such posts during conversations and social functions.

"I take note, but the final decision is mine," he said.

In the phone conversation, the man in the videoclip is heard saying that Dr Andrew Chew and Zainudin Ismail had been rejected, the latter because he had criticised certain judicial appointments.

On Wednesday, former Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Samsudin Osman testified that the ?man in the video? knew details of a letter sent by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed to the then Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah regarding the nominations of High Court judges.

These correspondences were official secrets that even ministers and deputy ministers had no access to, and he could not speculate as to how the man in the video had got this information.

Dr Mahathir also said that he got to know Datuk V.K. Lingam only recently when he appointed him as his lawyer after former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim filed a defamation suit.

Anwar sued for RM100mil, saying that Dr Mahathir allegedly portrayed him as a man of no morals who was dangerous to Malaysian society.

The suit was subsequently struck off.

Dr Mahathir took to the stand Thursday morning as the ninth witness to be called by the Royal Commission, which has been charged with verifying the authenticity of the videoclip which shows a senior lawyer apparently "brokering" the appointments of judges.

Dr Mahathir said he was willing to answer any question put to him by the Royal Commission, even if it was not relevant or beyond the scope of the Commission's terms of reference.