Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Azalina Othman said tonight that she had no intention to usurp Pandikar Amin Mulia's position as Dewan Rakyat speaker.

This comes after Pandikar today blasted her earlier in the day for usurping his powers by imposing a ban in Parliament on questions about the RM2.6 billion deposit received by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in his personal bank accounts.

"I had no intention whatsoever to take over the Dewan Rakyat speaker's duties.

"The statements I made on March 16 and 17 were based on my capacity as a minister who is responsible to answer questions about the RM2.6 billion," Azalina said in a statement.

She had refused to answer questions on the matter after the Bar Council filed a judicial review against attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali's decision not to prosecute Najib on the multi-billion ringgit deposits he received.

Discussing the matter in Parliament would be sub judice, Azalina claimed.

'Gov't has responded numerous times'

In the statement today, Azalina reiterated that the government had responded to questions on the issue numerous times.

"Opposition members accusing the government of refusing to answer is untrue as the government already responded to the issue in Parliament, through a ministerial reply on Dec 3, 2015, followed by six written replies to questions in the Dewan Rakyat on March 8, 9, 10 and 15, a day before the Bar Council filed its summons in the High Court," she said.

She noted that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad also filed a similar suit yesterday against Najib, which further reinforced her stance.

Pandikar today warned ministers not to repeat Azalina's actions, without mentioning her by name.

He also ruled that the issue of sub judice in the RM2.6 billion issue would be decided on a case by case basis.