Two Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers from Putrajaya today quizzed a lawyer representing Perak state assembly speaker V Sivakumar in relation to a corruption report against the latter.

Lawyer Augustine Anthony told a press conference this evening that the two MACC officers came to his office at 4pm unannounced and recorded a statement from him for about 35 minutes.

sivakumar lawyer augustine anthony question by macc 040309 "I find this to be harassment. It impedes my work and puts my daily schedule is disarray," he said.

Previously Sivakumar was quizzed for three hours on Feb 24 following a report lodged by an Umno member against him for allegedly abusing his power.

The report is believed to be related to Sivakumar's decision to suspend Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir and his six exco members from the state assembly.

Move to remove lawyer?

Anthony declined to elaborate on the questions posed to him by the MACC officers but hinted that it was a move to effectively remove him as Sivakumar's counsel.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where this is going... If a counsel to the client is made a witness, then the client is deprived of the choice of his own counsel. This is very unfair," he said.

Anthony said his role as Sivakumar's counsel was to prepare his client for his Feb 24 meeting with MACC officers.

This includes explaining the provisions within the newly passed Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

"We (lawyers) don't need to go through this (interrogation). We're just performing our duties (as lawyers)," he said.