Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department M Kayveas, who landed in a spot over a statement on the discriminatory provision in the Legal Profession Act (LPA), claimed to be a victim of sabotage.

In a parliamentary written reply dated March 22 to opposition leader and senior lawyer Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor), Kayveas had said that section 46A of the LPA will not be repealed to ensure that the Bar Council was free of any political influence and prevent conflict of interests.

The section bars lawyers who are office bearers in political parties and unions, members of Parliament, state assembly representatives and lawyers with less than seven years experience - commonly referred to as young lawyers - from contesting in the Bar Council elections.

'I don't know'

Met at the Parliament lobby today, Kayveas pleaded innocent.

"I have not seen the answer before, I don't know how my name appeared on it and I don't agree with the content of the written reply. Anything can be distributed to sabotage someone," he said.

The minister said he will investigate which ministry official was behind the 'blunder' and had used his name without his consent.

"That was done deliberately to confuse the matter," he added.

Asked on the government's stand on the disputed section, Kayveas cited his superior Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz's remark that it would be abolished .

Kayveas' parliamentary reply had caused a stir within the legal fraternity, prompting Bar Council president Yeo Yang Poh to express puzzlement over the government's flip-flop stand while the Kuala Lumpur Young Lawyers Committee described it as a 'sweeping statement'.

Section 46A has been a thorn in the side of young lawyers - forming almost two-third of the total members of the Bar - who long wanted to be represented in the governing process.

Their campaign against the provision was subsequently endorsed by the council.