'AG has to be an MP if Parliament wants direct answers'

PARLIAMENT The attorney-general must be an elected or appointed representative if Parliament wants to question him directly, de facto Law Minister Nancy Shukri said.

"To allow an attorney-general to answer any issue raised in Parliament directly, he must be a member of either the Dewan Rakyat or Dewan Negara," Nancy said in a written reply to Parliament.

She said this is in line with paragraphs (1) and (2) of Standing Orders 20 and 21, which allow questions to be posed only to ministers, MPs or senators.

Nancy was responding to a question from William Leong Jee Keen (PKR-Selayang) on whether the AG should be answerable to Parliament.

Leong had also asked whether the government would form a committee to evaluate the AG's decisions.

To this Nancy replied that constitution grants the AG absolute powers that cannot be questioned.

The current AG, Mohamed Apandi Ali, has been under heavy fire after he cleared Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of any wrongdoing in the RM2.6 billion donation and RM42 million SRC International scandals.

Apandi says he did so after thoroughly evaluating the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's investigation papers.

Najib has also denied any wrongdoing in the scandal.

The Bar Council has filed a judicial review application in court to review Apandi's decisions on the scandals. -Mkini