ATTORNEY GENERAL SEEKS TO AMEND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE FOR BETTER TIME MANAGEMENT

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Attorney General's Chambers (AGC), keen to make use of the growing usage of information communication technology (ICT) in the country's legal system, has put forward a suggestion to help maximise time efficiency at the courts.

The move follows initial steps in expediting case resolutions launched earlier in January this year.

During the Legal Year 2013 that took place at the High Court in the capital yesterday, Attorney General (AG) Datin Seri Paduka Hajah Hayati binti POKSDSP Haji Mohd Salleh proposed to Chief Justice Dato Seri Paduka Haji Kifrawi Dato Paduka Haji Kifli the amending of the Criminal Procedure Code that will allow for individuals to plead guilty "by letter or other media" and for the payment of fines to be done "by electronic means for suitable offences" such as practised in some jurisdictions.

"The Chambers (referring to her office) is ready to consider these with support from the judiciary", and should the proposal be welcomed, the AG further recommended for the setting up of a Working Committee comprising officials from the AGC, the judiciary and other relevant agencies.

This proposal comes in the wake of the AGC's Criminal Case Negotiation (CCN) project that commenced earlier in the year that is aimed at implementing measures towards early case resolutions and minimising "wastage of judicial time" including criminal case disclosure and plea bargaining procedure.

The CCN, she explained, "is a formalisation of such practices which had been used by prosecution with the cooperation of enforcement agencies as well as legal practitioners in an effort to speed up early resolution of criminal cases", that is more transparent and consistent.

"This initiative is also intended to support the State Judiciary Department in its implementation of the 'Judiciary E-Case Management System' to enhance the effectiveness and productivity of case management in court," she added.

To further add to its ICT portfolio, the AG further said that her office has begun the implementation stage to ease internal file management that will include three workflow applications and one function including File Management Workflow that handle registration and management of correspondences throughout the Chambers; Prosecution Management Workflow to handle registration and management of investigation papers from the enforcement agencies until the case closes; Debt Collection Management Workflow to handle registration and management of civil claims from government agencies until claims are settled; and the Generation of Report and Statistics.

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin