Lawyer Rafique Rashid Ali has suggested to newly appointed Attorney-General Tommy Thomas to consider appointing senior criminal lawyers to team up with his deputy public prosecutors should charges be laid against Najib Abdul Razak over the 1MDB affair.

Rafique, who is also a criminal law practitioner, opined that if Najib was charged, it would be a globally watched case.

"I take great optimism on Thomas' statement yesterday and at the same time, I wish to tread with caution in relation to the AG saying that he has appointed a team of experienced DPPs and senior federal counsel.

"If only DPPs are entrusted I am afraid it won't be much good as the case would grab worldwide attention. The countries' top criminal lawyers and a team of experienced DPPs should make up the prosecution team against Najib.

“The criminal lawyers should consider it as national service," he said.

Rafique said depending on DPPs solely would backfire since most of them were under the thumb of former AG Mohamed Apandi Ali.

"I urge the AG to issue a fiat to appoint these top lawyers for the specific purpose of prosecuting Najib. I am sure this is national service and will put the country's legal system in good light," he said.

The last a fiat was given was to senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah who was appointed by then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail to conduct the appeal against the acquittal of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy at the Court of Appeal in 2014.

Yesterday, it was reported that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had handed over its investigation papers in relation to 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd to Thomas.

The new AG then allowed requests by several foreign jurisdictions for mutual legal assistance (MLA) to investigate 1MDB.

Thomas said he will require time to review the investigation papers from MACC but appreciated the urgency of the tasks.

"In order to effectively discharge our duties, I have appointed a team to study the papers with a view to possibly instituting criminal prosecution and another to study them with civil proceedings in mind," Thomas said.