Paragraph 150 Attorney General

There shall be an Attorney General of Ascension, who, subject to subsection (3), shall be the person for the time being holding or acting in the office of Attorney General of St Helena.

The Attorney General shall be the principal legal adviser to the Government of Ascension.

No person who is acting as Attorney General of St Helena shall act as Attorney General in relation to Ascension while the person holding the office of Attorney General is in Ascension.

The Governor may appoint a suitably qualified and experienced person to be a Crown Counsel of Ascension, and any such Crown Counsel shall be an officer of the Ascension Public Service and shall act as legal adviser to the Government of Ascension, subordinate to the Attorney General and acting under and in accordance with his or her general or special instructions.

The Attorney General may, in any case in which he or she considers it desirable to do so—

The powers of the Attorney General under subsection (5) may be exercised by him or her in person or by officers subordinate to him or her acting under and in accordance with his or her general or special instructions.

The powers conferred on the Attorney General by subsection (5)(b) and (c) shall be vested in him or her to the exclusion of any other person or authority; but where any other person or authority has instituted criminal proceedings, nothing in this subsection shall prevent the withdrawal of those proceedings by or at the instance of that person or authority at any stage before the person against whom the proceedings have been instituted has been charged before the court.

For the purposes of this section, any appeal from any determination in any criminal proceedings before any court, or any case stated or question of law reserved for the purpose of any such proceedings to any other court, shall be deemed to be part of those proceedings.

In the exercise of the powers conferred on him or her by this section, the Attorney General, and any person acting under his or her authority, shall act independently and shall not be subject to the direction of control of the Governor, the Island Council or any other person or authority.