The move was to avoid negative public perception of the prosecution team in the wake of a blogger's allegation that she is romantically involved with lead witness Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, who revealed this at a press conference at his office here today, said it was not because she had done anything wrong, but to protect the credibility of the prosecution team and to avoid disrupting the trial.

He said the decision to remove her from the team was done by the team late last week and the removal from the division was made on yesterday.

"Irrespective of whether that allegation is true or not, the fact remains that the team took it very seriously even in my absence. When I was on holiday, the team decided on their own to drop her from the team; that was late last week.

"Upon my return to the office, I was briefed on Sunday about the matter and I also looked into the blog (Malaysia Today). I also held a discussion with senior officers of both solicitor-general and a senior lady officer as to how to handle the matter.

"And yesterday we decided, because of this allegation, it does not matter anymore whether it is true or not, but to avoid any negative public perception and credibility of the team, we have decided to remove her from the prosecution division," he said.

Fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin had alleged in a blog posting recently that the deputy public prosecutor, a junior member of the prosecution team in Anwar’s trial, is having an "affair" with Mohd Saiful.

The on-going trial is set to continue on Aug 2.

Abdul Gani said the AG's Chambers acknowledged the fact that the alleged affair was widely reported.

He said Farah was directed to render general assistance to the team, including the taking of notes of evidence from Jan 20 this year.

"However, she was never at any time, involved in the discussions and preparations of the trial, and had no access whatsoever to the investigation papers.

"Whatever information she had would be those already produced in court. Whatever information produced in court was also within the public domain," he added.

Abdul Gani explained that it has been the rule and observed in any prosecution team that in all high profile cases, investigation papers and documents are only kept by the lead prosecutor or the senior officers in the team.

"No juniors are given access to those papers or any evidence be it documentary or physical," he added.

He said they assist the prosecution team only in performing certain tasks and they do not encroach into discussions pertaining to strategies within the prosecution and deliberations of evidence that is available and to be tendered in court.

"I must emphasise the fact that her involvement in that particular case is very minimal. And, also, the alleged relationship between them is a strictly personal matter.

"I also admit the fact that none of the prosecution team, including myself, knew whether there was such a relationship or not until the allegation come out in Malaysia Today," he added.

Abdul Gani also said Farah Azlina will be informed of the decision immediately after the press conference, adding an internal investigation will be conducted on the matter.

"If there is something wrong, action will be taken. As far as the chambers is concerned, we take this matter seriously and there will be no compromise whatsoever on matters of etiquette.

"It can be a very hard life for us. Whatever private matters you have, it is going to affect the department in any form. In other words, if it affects the integrity of the department, it is a matter of our concern. One being a government servant must be responsible," he said. -- theSun