Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Conflict of interest

In an article in The Guardian on 27 June 2007 Marcel Berlin wrote:
The office of attorney general contains an inherent inescapable flaw; a potential conflict of interest between the two hats that come with the job….Under one hat, the attorney general is a political animal, appointed by the party in power and owing allegiance to its policies.   He’s also the government’s legal advisor and although not a member of the cabinet, can be invited to attend meetings…Yet the same insider, wearing the other hat, is expected to make decisions over a whole range of issues (especially criminal prosecutions) as an independent lawyer, taking into account the public interest, with no thought of how they would affect government policy or colleagues.”

  This is an untenable position and one way or another, the conflict should be resolved.

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