Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said the concept of separation of powers between the legislative, judiciary and executive is "too idealistic" to be implemented in the country.

"In the administration of a government, the interests of the country and the people are far above any other interests," he said in his winding-up speech in Parliament last night.

Nazri, a lawyer by training, said the difficulties of upholding the separation of powers also happened in other countries, not only in Malaysia..

The minister was responding to remarks made by Zaid Ibrahim (BN-Kota Bahru) in the latter's debate last Monday. Zaid is also a senior lawyer and Kelantan Umno deputy chief.

Zaid had stated that the executive was granted with excessive powers following the 1988 amendments to the Federal Constitution that "had undermined the power of the court from acting as a tool of justice to merely making decisions on matters related to the law".

He also said the court no longer has the judicial review power as most of the decisions from the executive are treated as final and could not be challenged in court.

The BN backbencher called for the Federal Constitution to be amended in order to restore the power of the judiciary.

'Complaint' place

Replying to this, Nazri said the high courts and federal courts still hold the judicial review powers as enshrined in the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

"High courts and the federal courts are still accorded the powers as a 'complaint' place for those dissatisfied with the decision made by the executive. The same goes to the appellate court which was set up in 1994.

"This is clearly evidenced with the many judicial review cases being heard or pending hearing in the high court, appellate court or the federal court after 1988," he said.

On the investigation status into excessive claims made by 16 parliamentarians or ex-parliamentarians, the minister said the Attorney-General's chamber is still 'considering' the case against four politicians over the issue.

He said out of the 16, the AG's chamber found insufficient evidence to charge ten of them in court, while two had been charged and four still under "consideration".

Former PAS Jeli MP Mohd Apandi Mohamad and ex-Keadilan Kota Bharu MP Ramli Ibrahim were charged in the Kuala Lumpur Session Court on April 8 with making false travel and accommodation claims during their term as members of Parliament. They are currently out on bail.

On the four pending cases, Nazri said the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) is still in the process of ascertaining their documents of claim since some of them were directly made from the hotels which the MPs had stayed.

According to him, the ACA opined that the direct claims made from the hotel were unacceptable.

No basis to charge Rafidah

On the progress of the corruption investigations against the 18 high-ranking individuals, Nazri said only six of them - whom he did not name - are still being investigated.

He said the 12 charged in court to date included Perwaja Steel managing director Eric Chia, former land and cooperatives development minister Kasitah Gaddam, the two ex-opposition MPs, two ex-Selangor exco members, one Perak Umno division chief, a Kangar municipal council chief, two officials with the state-owned Perbadanan Nasional Berhad, a manager of Telekom Sdn Bhd and a manager with the Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia.

The minister also reiterated that the AG (Abdul Ghani Patail) would not reopen the corruption case against International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz. The call to reopen the case was made by Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) last week.

"The former AG (the late Mokhtar Abdullah) was satisfied that there was no basis to charge the minister and the current AG is also satisfied with the decision, therefore this issue is inappropriate to be raised again," Nazri said.

On another of Karpal's question concerning the ACA's probe against him, Nazri said he was cleared over the 6,000 taxi licences scandal.

"Being investigated does not mean that I was wrong. The honourable Bukit Gelugor member, as a senior lawyer, should uphold the principle of 'innocent until proven guilty'," he said.