PUTRAJAYA: The Bar Council was accused of trying to gain cheap publicity by calling for the separation of powers between the attorney-general and public prosecutors. Criticising the Bar, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said the council's proposal was a non-issue.
"The government's position is simple. The attorney-general is also the public prosecutor."
Nazri was commenting on a proposal in a memorandum sent to the prime minister and him by the Bar Council last month.
In the memorandum, the council proposed that the posts of attorney-general and public prosecutor should be held by separate persons.
Nazri said the cabinet did not discuss the proposal at any of its recent meetings, considering it a bid to attract cheap publicity.
He said debates on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Judicial Appointments Commission Bills in Parliament last month would have revealed the government's position on the matter.
"The government would still be the appointing authority even if the positions were held by two separate individuals," he said.
"Anyway it is up to the prime minister, who will seek the opinion of his cabinet."
Council chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said recently that they had outlined the reasons to separate the positions as the current fused roles gave rise to a conflict of interest.
The council wants the government to amend the Federal Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).
The council's proposal was modelled along the lines of the functions of the attorney-general and public prosecutor in India.
In that country, the attorney-general performed the constitutional role of legal adviser to the government, while the public prosecutor directed and controlled criminal prosecution and proceedings under the CPC and other laws.
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