An opposition lawmaker has urged attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali not to be a 'yes man' when conducting prosecution.

"We hope the AG will not be a 'yes man'," said Mohamed Hanipa Maidin (Amanah-Sepang) at the Parliament lobby today.

The AG should conduct the prosecution in a transparent, fair and just manner, he added.

Hanipa ( photo ) said this when condemning the treatment received by PSM member Khalid Mohd Ismath, who was denied bail following 14 counts of charges over his posting on the Johor royalty.

According to the Amanah MP, the attorney-general was the one who directed the DPP to request the court to deny bail for the activist.

"The court normally allows bail in a criminal prosecution unless the AG says otherwise.

"He wants to send a message to prospective alleged criminals that they will be remanded, so they need to be careful with their statements," Hanipa said.

He said it is "nonsense" to deny bail, which he described as a fundamental right of the accused.

Differences with central bank

On Oct 13, the activist was slapped with 11 charges under Communications and Multimedia Act and three charges under Sedition Act.

According to Hanipa, Apandi has started his tenure as the attorney-general in a bad way since he also has differences with Bank Negara over 1MDB.

The Attoney-General's Chambers decided not to prosecute 1MDB, but the central bank wanted it to review this decision.

1MDB was also ordered to repatriate funds totalling US$1.83 billion after Bank Negara revoked three permissions granted to the company under the Exchange Control Act (ECA).

Apandi, however, maintained that no crime was committed under the ECA.