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"I therefore intend to set up a working party, to be chaired by the Director of Public Prosecutions, to look at the briefing out system, including the briefing out of civil cases," he said.

The working party is expected to start work at the beginning of June and submit a report to the Attorney General by the end of this year.

In the meantime, Mr Mathews said the Legal Department would continue to implement the improvement measures to the briefing out system which had been introduced since January this year.

"We would also study the two reports carefully to see what further improvements should be made," he said.

Concerning the fees paid to counsel handling the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance Ltd. (BMFL) case, Mr Mathews said as head of the Legal Department, he accepted ultimate responsibility, as he always did, for what the department did and what went on in it.

"I have never disclaimed or shirked that responsibility. That is why I initiated the comprehensive audit which is being discussed by this Panel. That is why I am now here to answer questions and criticisms," he said.

Responding to queries about the number of cases that had been briefed out to former Legal Department counsel, Mr Mathews said during the last three years, 173 cases (costing $32 million) had been briefed out to those who had left the department since the beginning of 1992.

"This is against a total of 3,565 cases briefed out during the same period at a total cost of $336 million. This means that only 4.9 per cent of cases briefed out were given to those former Legal Department counsel. In terms of money paid, it is about 9.5 per cent, or 4.4 per cent if the BMFL case is excluded," Mr Mathews noted.

He added that during the past three years, there had been only three instances where Crown Counsel left the Department to practise at the private Bar and who had been instructed in cases they were involved with when in the department.

One of these three cases was the BMFL case, and the fees paid in respect of the other cases amounted to $4.7 million, Mr Mathews said.

"In this context, as members will recall, we now have a six-month moratorium on counsel who leave us for the Bar receiving any work from the legal Department, save in exceptional circumstances," Mr Mathews added.

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