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Petition of FP Frederiksen & ors
| The question remains into which category
the powers of the Attorney General under section 24 of the Act should
fall. Should these powers fall within those discussed in the Taylor
case or are they of such a different nature as to be suitable for
judicial review. It is a question of the nature and subject matter
of the Attorney General's statutory powers as to whether his decisions
are amenable to judicial review and it is for this Court to decide
on the basis of the statutory powers in this case whether the powers
in section 24 of the Act should be reviewable.
The powers in section 24 can
best be described as investigative powers of a draconian nature.
They give the Attorney General wide-ranging powers of investigation
backed by criminal liability as a sanction for non-cooperation.
The powers include a power of search and seizure by entering the
premises of private individuals. It seems to me that there is a
marked difference in the nature of these powers when compared with
those functions of the Attorney General which it has been established
should not be subject to judicial review. When carrying out those
functions e.g. consent to prosecution, deciding whether or not a
prosecution should be taken, entering a nolle prosequi and so on
he is acting in his own right as Attorney General and those powers
are of such a nature that it would be quite absurd to allow a Court
to interfere with his discretion. His principal function there is
either to authorise prosecution or to prosecute offences in the
knowledge that defendants will have full opportunity in defending
themselves and be able to exercise their full rights under the law.
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