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Bar Council: No chance of legal aid abuses here

Thursday, 13 October 2011 08:13am

©The Sun Daily (Used by permission)
by Tan Yi Liang

PETALING JAYA (Oct 12,2011): Abuses of the legal aid system such as those that take place in the United Kingdom will never be encountered in Malaysia as the proposed RM15 million allocation to the National Legal Aid Foundation is small, compared to other countries.

Malaysian Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee, in an email to theSun, said the sum is small, compared to other jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan.

"We will never face the same problem as the UK which has a large legal aid scheme that eats up a substantial amount of its budget," he said.

The issue of abuses of the legal aid system in the UK was raised in theSun today by our UK correspondent R. Nadeswaran.

In his column, Citizen-Nades highlighted some of the abuses of the system which included legal aid being granted to London Metropolitan Police commander Ali Dizaei who, despite owning three homes worth RM4.94 million, only had to fork out RM3,705 out of the RM318,630 in legal costs for his graft trial.

Lim said that while the present system allowed for representation for all regardless of income at bail or remand hearings, a means test was required for representation at criminal trials.

He also said the Bar Council welcomed the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's proposal to increase funds to the National Legal Aid Foundation, during the tabling of the 2012 Budget.

Lim said it demonstrated Najib's belief in access to justice.

"The funds will be used to operate a small secretariat staff and pay lawyers a more than nominal sum for services rendered but such sums are lower than market rates," said Lim.

At present, those from a household with an annual income of less than than RM25,000 per annum can seek aid from the foundation.

Lawyers for Liberty campaign director Fadiah Nadwa Fikri said the prevention of abuse was the very reason why any legal aid system should employ something like a means test to ensure eligibility.

Fadiah, in a phone interview with theSun today, said that there were certain ways in which abuse of the system could be prevented.

"We can set up a certain salary cap for those applying for it, we can see how much they are earning, how many children they have and their spending," said Fadiah, who cited the means test used by the Bar Council for taking in cases through their Legal Aid Centres.

"The Bar Council has been applying a means test all this while to prioritise the cases to be attended to," she said.

Asked about the RM15 million allocation, Fadiah said that it was the responsibility of the government to provide access to justice for those who could not afford representation, adding that the amount was barely enough for legal aid to be provided nationwide.

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