The police should not allow Certificate of Legal Profession examination director Khalid Yusoff to dictate when he should be questioned over his alleged involvement in the tampering of examinations results, said a DAP leader today.

Party deputy chairman Karpal Singh said "it was ridiculous that Khalid should be allowed to call the shots in police investigation".

The veteran politician was referring to a news report today which quoted Federal Police Commercial Crime director Maizan Shaari as saying that Khalid was not available for questioning until tomorrow.

"At the moment, Khalid indicated that he will only be able to give his statement to the police tomorrow," Maizan was quoted in today's New Straits Times .

Karpal said that in view of the severity of the accusations made against Khalid, the police should have investigated the director first.

"The police should not condescend to Khalid's convenience to have his statement recorded. The Criminal Procedure Code gives the police ample powers to require his attendance," said the senior lawyer in a statement.

Karpal added that the police may also obtain a magistrate order for a warrant of arrest to secure the attendance of any person.

Serious matter

Karpal said that the Attorney-General's Chambers should direct the police to take the investigation seriously.

"It is incredible that the police should wait for Khalid to make a statement in relation to the police report lodged last week."

Karpal added the police must remember that the report against Khalid was made by the Legal Profession Qualifying Board which had implicated the director in the alleged tampering of the CLP results.

Last Tuesday, after a marathon meeting, the board revealed that in addition to the July and October examination question leaks, it was also discovered that the marks had been tampered.

The board said that it believed Khalid was responsible for the tampering. The board secretary Abdul Wahab Said Ahmad then lodged a police report. He was interviewed by the police for about four hours last Friday.

The police said they will interview other board members as well.

The members of the board are Attorney-General Ainum Mohd Saaid, High Court Judge Abdul Wahab Patail, Federal Court Siti Norma Yaacob, Bar Council chairman Mah Weng Kwai, Federal Court chief registrar Abdul Wahab who also doubles-up as the secretary, and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Assoc Prof Shamsuddin Suhor.

No disciplinary action

Despite the police report and accusation against Khalid, who has been the director since 1993*, no disciplinary action has been taken against him or any other staff involved in the leak.

On Saturday, Khalid denied that he had tampered with the marks.

"I would not call it (altering the marks) tampering," Khalid was quoted as saying in The Sun .

Karpal said that the public interest demands a thorough and fruitful investigation on the matter.

* Editor's note : We erroneously stated Khalid has been the director since the inception of CLP in 1984. The copy has been corrected.