Allegations against DPP are serious ethical concerns

By Tan Yi Liang, TheSun

"It is definitely is an ethical matter, as prosecutions are done in the interest of justice. You are there to put your case before the court in the interest of justice. As there is no client here, there should be no relationship between prosecutor and complainant," he said.

The allegations against Deputy Public Prosecutor Farah Azlina Latif are serious enough to warrant disciplinary action and should be investigated.

Speaking to theSun in a phone interview today, Malaysian Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan said actions such as being romantically linked to a key witness in a prosecution are "ethical matters".

"It is definitely is an ethical matter, as prosecutions are done in the interest of justice. You are there to put your case before the court in the interest of justice. As there is no client here, there should be no relationship between prosecutor and complainant," he said.

Farah, who has been dropped from the prosecution team in the sodomy trial of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was allegedly romantically involved with the complainant in the trial, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

"Even in a private solicitor-client relationship, it is unethical as the issue of objectivity would be questioned. Will the solicitor be fair to the client. It is even more onerous in the case of a prosecutor," added Ragunath.

He said he supported her removal from the team and an investigation to determine whether the prosecution has been compromised and whether she had access to any information that would compromise the prosecution of the accused.

He added that a lawyer could be disbarred for such a relationship, but cautioned that certain factors have to be considered.

"Many factors have to be considered such as the extent of the relationship and the time it occurred- was it before, during or after the time the lawyer was handling the case.

The test when it comes to punishment is whether it affected his or her objectivity in handling the case," said Ragunath.

Anwar's counsel Sankara Nair accused Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail of skirting the issue when he announced that Farah had been dropped from the prosecution team and the division.

"He didn't confirm...I think the AG is skirting the issue as he has yet to reply to me formally. By taking this action, he is only fueling suspicions with regards to this matter," he said.

He had sent a letter to Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden on Monday to seek a confirmation of the information which first appeared on the Malaysia Today blog.

When asked if Anwar's defence team would move for a mistrial, Sankara declined to comment, but said it was an option.

"Under the law, Saiful cannot be given any advantage, and he should be treated like any other witness, because it is the public prosecutor who is prosecuting Anwar. He cannot access any information he is not allowed to have," he said.