Former attorney-general Abu Talib Othman said during his time and before that, prosecutors did not "advertise" themselves in the media.

However, he noted that senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is seen as doing so by giving interviews to the media following the successful conviction of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for Sodomy II on Feb 10.

"Yes, he (Shafee) seems to have been good at doing that - 'advertising' himself (since winning)," he laughed when asked.

He was referring to the interviews given by the senior lawyer to the mainstream media namely the New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia recently.

Shafee was appointed by present attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail in July 2013 to lead the prosecution team in Anwar’s appeal.

Responding to a question, Abu Talib said such things did not happen during his tenure as AG, from 1980 to 1993.

"During my time, we did prosecute high profile cases but we never appointed outsiders from the AGC to prosecute.

"I did two high-profile cases namely (former Selangor menteri besar Harun Idris, and former youth and sports minister Mokhtar Hashim. We never found a need to appoint persons from outside," said Abu Talib.

Besides Shafee, the AGC had also, under Gani, appointed private practitioner Tan Hock Chuan in the Teoh Beng Hock inquest in the past.

Yesterday, Abu Talib was quoted by The Malaysian Insider as asking the AGC to revoke Shafee's appointment as a prosecutor.

Abu Talib said that as the case had ended on Feb 10, further remarks were unnecessary and inappropriate as well as lending further credence to the perception that this case is politically motivated.

Shafee's self promotion may not end with the two newspapers as he is scheduled to be at a dialogue tonight at Kelana Jaya with Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also his client.

The event was promoted on Facebook yesterday, with an invitation reading "anyone who had written like a law professor in Facebook are welcomed".

"Do not be a keyboard warrior. This is your chance to go face to face with Shafee," Khairy wrote on Facebook.

Shafee is also representing Khairy in two defamation suits which were filed by Anwar against the minister.

Yesterday, Universiti Malaya law professor Gurdial Singh Nijhar also criticised Shafee's conduct.