COMMENT | Separate and limit AG's powers now

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely

- Lord Acton

COMMENT | Attorney-General Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh’s assertion that the public prosecutor does not need to give reasons for seeking the withdrawal of criminal charges has raised with an urgency ever more than before, the need to limit and separate the AG’s powers.

Not only should this involve the oft-mentioned separation of powers of the AG as an adviser to the government and public prosecutor, it should also entail the devolvement of power to prosecute to the individual investigation and enforcement agencies.

The second is as important as the first. Many investigations by the enforcement agencies such as the MACC and Bank Negara Malaysia came to nought because the AG, in his lack of both wisdom and independence, refused to charge offenders.

The most significant of these was when...