A circular sighted by FMT showed Hanafiah’s new position will take effect from Aug 1 but no replacement has been named for his present post.

It said Hanafiah, who was appointed to the post last November, will remain in the acting Staff 3 grade.

A check at the ILKAP website showed the organisation is headed by director-general Anita Harun with Jusa B grade.

Hanafiah, who is scheduled to retire next year, was made solicitor general III following the restructuring of the Attorney-General’s Chambers last year.

He reports directly to Attorney-General Tommy Thomas and is responsible for the litigation sector of the civil division, the prosecution division and the appellate & trial division.

All state prosecution director offices report to him.

He was in the news last September when he took responsibility for withdrawing the corruption charges against Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and a businesswoman.

Both were acquitted of charges over the sale of a bungalow on Jalan Pinhorn, George Town, after the prosecution declined to offer further witnesses.

Thomas, who once represented Lim in that case as a lawyer, recused himself and left it to Hanafiah to make a decision.

Hanafiah had also appeared with lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah in Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy appeal in the Federal Court in February 2015.

The five-member bench upheld Anwar’s conviction and sentence of a five-year jail term until his release with a full pardon after Pakatan Harapan won the 14th general election last year.