Malaysian lawyer Mah Weng Kwai has stepped down from an appointment as commissioner of an anti-corruption body set up by Fiji's military regime, sources said today.

Mah, who is also president of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific, was appointed to head the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption last month but has been criticised for taking a post under the military regime.

Sources at a meeting of the association's executive committee in Hong Kong said Mah had told the meeting on Tuesday he would not take up the job in Fiji following the criticism.

Fighting corruption has been highlighted by self-appointed interim prime minister and coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama as a focus of his government.

He said the alleged corruption of the government of prime minister Laisenia Qarase was one of the primary motivations for his Dec 5 coup last year.

The president of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, Graeme Mew, had written to the association last week asking it to take a stand over Mah's Fijian appointment, The Fiji Times said Tuesday.

"The CLA is extremely concerned that the appointment will lend credibility to the interim government of the Republic of Fiji which seized power in a military coup in December 2006," Mew's letter reportedly said.