DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang today 'diagnosed' the central figure in the Certificate in Legal Practice controversy, Khalid Yusoff, as suffering from a "total denial syndrome".

Lim said this can be seen from the CLP examination director's denial that he had "tampered with the marks" despite the fact that 113 candidates had been failed after a review of his "handiwork".

Khalid has been accused by the six-member Legal Profession Qualifying Board of altering the marks on the answer scripts when transferring them to the master result sheets.

However, in The Sun today, Khalid denied that he had tampered with the marks. "I would not call it (altering the marks) tampering."

And asked if he expects to be picked up by the police, The Sun quoted the exam director as saying "I don't know".

Supporting de facto Law Minister Dr Rais Yatim's call in the same report today, Lim urged the board to immediately suspend Khalid.

In his scathing statement, Lim also called all members of Parliament "to unite on Monday, to issue a parliamentary order to Khalid to take eave from office and to stay away from the Qualifying Board premises until completion of police investigations".

He also slammed the board for allowing Khalid full freedom at the premises, calling it "shocking and inexcusable".

"Khalid's presence is clearly not conducive to thorough police investigations that are ongoing".

The CLP scandal made headlines following the decision by the Qualifying Board to annul the examination results of the July exam and the October supplementary exam after it was discovered that questions had been leaked.

In addition to the leakage, it was also revealed that the marks had been tampered with, forcing the board to check and reinstate the original results. Subsequently, a police report was lodged and Khalid quizzed.

'Extend AG's term'

In a separate statement, Lim also proposed that outgoing Attorney-General Ainum Mohd Saaid's term be extended by at least three months to resolve the "ballooning" CLP exam scandal.

Ainum is the chairperson of the Qualifying Board.

Lim said the extension is also necessary to create conditions for the proper appointment of her successor.

Ainum tendered her resignation on Nov 18, citing health reasons. The next day, senior deputy public prosecutor Abdul Gani Patail was named as her successor. He will assume office on Jan 1.

Abdul Gani's immediate appointment also raised eyebrows concerning its constitutionality.

Meanwhile, Lim said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the cabinet must give serious consideration to the letter by the Malaysian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Noor Farida Ariffin, which said Ainum had tried in her one year as AG "to stop the rot in the department".

Ainum also tried to raise the professional standards and performance of her officers and her appointment as well as that of Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah as Chief Justice earlier this year, were hailed by those in the legal fraternity as the "light at the end of a dark tunnel", read the letter which was published in malaysiakini on Tuesday.

Noor Farida also blamed the media for helping fuel the rumours which, she said, finally drove Ainum from her job.

In view of this, Lim said if Ainum does not agree to the extension of her term, she should then submit a report to the Parliament on the progress and success of her one-year campaign to "stop the rot" in the AG's Chambers.

Ainum must show that the "light for the administration of justice had become greater and sharper instead of dimmer in the past 12 months," he added.