‘Enlist senior lawyers to conduct prosecution’

Tuesday, 30 January 2007 10:41am

©New Straits Times (Used by permission) KUALA LUMPUR: Senior criminal lawyers should be enlisted to assist in the prosecution of complicated cases on behalf of the public prosecutor. Lawyer Karpal Singh said there was provision for this in the Criminal Procedure Code but it was ignored. "In Britain, Queen’s Counsel are employed on an ad-hoc basis to conduct prosecution on behalf of the state," he said. "The position there should be emulated. I am confident senior criminal lawyers will rise to the occasion in the interest of the public," he said. Karpal said the number of botched high profile cases in the last two years brought into focus the necessity of finding ways of ensuring that prosecutions were conducted by experienced DPPs. Karpal said the weakness of the prosecution was the main reason why there had been acquittals of accused persons as the Attorney-General’s Chambers did not have enough experienced DPPs. "This position can to some extent be alleviated by having recourse to section 379 of the CPC," he said, adding the provision stated that the public prosecutor could employ a lawyer on behalf of the government to conduct criminal trials, inquiries or to appear on any criminal appeal or point of law. The provision said the lawyer could be paid remuneration, as allowed by the Finance Minister, and would be deemed a civil servant while conducting such prosecution. Meanwhile, Bar Council criminal sub-committee chairman V. Sithambaram said the expertise of senior lawyers was welcomed because they knew how the defence was likely to attack the prosecution. Sithambaram said he had yet to see the role of the prosecutor played by a lawyer in Malaysia.