Works Minister S Samy Vellu and the cabinet have been taken to task for calling on the attorney-general (AG) to act over the recent publication of a toll concession agreement.

In a statement today, Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang said this precipitated a grave constitutional issue.

AG Abdul Gani Patail was asked to take 'appropriate action' on the grounds that toll concession agreements are classified secret and cannot be exhibited without authority.

The Coalition Against Toll Hikes (Protes) and opposition leaders had revealed the agreement between the government and Litrak, which operates Lebuhraya-Damansara Puchong (LDP), during a press conference early this month.

Following this, Samy Vellu saw red and urged the cabinet to take action against those who 'stole and exhibited' the agreement.

"It is classified secret ... a restricted document of the government. It has been stolen by some people and we have suggested we are going to ask the AG's office to take appropriate action against those who stole the document and exhibited it without the authority, and they have to pay for it," he had told reporters.

Executive interference

Meanwhile, Lim said the manner this issue was raised in the cabinet constituted a completely unacceptable executive interference that encroaches into the constitutional independence of the AG on all questions of prosecution or otherwise.

He said this "reflected a past habit of mind that the AG must do the bidding of the executive on who and what to prosecute and not to prosecute."

"Article 145 (3) spelt out very clearly the powers of the AG with regard to prosecution: The AG shall have power, exercisable at his discretion, to institute, conduct or discontinue any proceedings for an offence, other than proceedings before a Syariah Court, a native court or a court martial," he pointed out.

"The sole discretionary powers of the AG to institute, conduct or discontinue any prosecution is a fundamental constitutional principle giving the AG absolute independence from the executive and requiring him to act independently of partisan concerns when supervising prosecutorial decisions," he said.

Lim urged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to reaffirm his commitment to uphold the doctrine of separation of powers and full acceptance and respect of the quasi-judicial powers of the AG on questions of prosecution.

Apart from this, he said Abdullah must also make a commitment that neither he nor his ministers can issue orders to the AG and the AG must absolutely decline to receive any such orders.

The toll agreement was released following the hike in toll rates for five highways in the Klang Valley effective Jan 1.

Critics have accused the government of entering into lopsided agreements with the concessionaires at the expense of the public.