Judge Kamaludin Md Said said the AG was empowered under Article 145 of the Federal Constitution to institute, conduct or discontinue “any proceedings” for an offence.

He said the word “proceedings” means “judicial proceedings” and did not include investigations.

Kamaludin said Section 376(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) also states that the public prosecutor “shall have the control and direction of all criminal prosecutions and proceedings”.

“Thus, the AG (public prosecutor) is only empowered to have control and direction of criminal prosecutions and proceedings and not of the investigation of an offence,” he said in a 22-page judgment to dismiss an appeal by lawyer P Uthayakumar.

Judges M Gunalan and Hashim Hamzah were the other judges who heard the appeal recently.

The lawyer wanted the AG to set aside a notice issued by the police two years ago for him to assist them in their investigation.

Uthayakumar, who claimed the notice hampered his work as a lawyer, also wanted a stay of any warrant of arrest issued against him for failing to comply with the order.

Kamaludin said the AG has no power to review the notice issued by a police officer under Section 111 of the CPC as it was in respect of an investigation.

He said the AG and his deputies (deputy public prosecutors) were not involved in the investigation process.

“Their involvement at the investigation stage is merely to direct the relevant authorities to conduct further investigations if the need arises,” he added.

Kamaludin said the criminal justice system required separation of duties between those who investigate and those who prosecute.

“The AG will not interfere in any investigation undertaken by the police for obvious reasons.

“The AG and the police are under two separate organisations, with separate powers and responsibility under the law,” he added.

He said the duty to investigate could not be deemed as oppressive or else this country would face a calamity if the police were shackled from carrying out their duties.