Attorney-general should be an MP for accountability, says Zaid

 

Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim said former prime minister Najib Razak suffered the most from the haste in which several cases were prosecuted.

PETALING JAYA: 

Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim has urged the government to mandate that the attorney-general be an elected MP to ensure the accountability of the public prosecutor’s office.

In a post on X this morning, Zaid said Malaysia could emulate the United Kingdom’s system, which requires the AG to be an MP.

Richard Hermer, the current AG for England and Wales and advocate-general for Northern Ireland, is a member of the upper house of the UK Parliament.

Zaid’s comments come after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said yesterday that the prosecution of several cases following the 2018 general election was flawed as it was hastily done and politically motivated.

Zaid said former prime minister Najib Razak suffered the most under this “injustice”, and that the Anwar administration needs to amend the system to prevent the recurrence of such cases.

He said the public prosecutor’s office must also be independent of the Attorney-General’s Chambers and called for the separation of legal and judicial services.

“It should be an independent unit and funded separately. Let it be operated by government and private lawyers, whose promotion and security of tenure do not depend on the AG.

“Such changes will end the days of an AG keeping mum and not being accountable to the public (over the actions of the public prosecutor’s office),” he said.

Yesterday, Anwar said the Cabinet had accepted the proposed division of functions between the attorney-general and the public prosecutor in the AGC.

The Cabinet draft paper on this is expected to be ready by mid-2025, he added. - FMT