In the opinion of National Legislative Assembly member Borwornsak Uwanno, the legislation should be an organic law of the new constitution.

"The role of the special prosecutor should be modelled on that of the independent counsel in the United States in handling cases like the Watergate scandal," Bowornsak said on Friday.

He said the country needed the special prosecutor to expedite litigation that could get bogged down in normal legal channels.

"The recent collapse of independent organisations is a lesson that a special mechanism should be ready for activation when the system of checks and balances fails," he said.

Voicing support for Borwornsak's remarks, National Counter Corruption Commission member Wicha Mahakun said the special prosecutor should be appointed on an ad hoc basis.

"There will be no permanent appointment, as the special prosecutor will be tasked to resolve a particular scandal," he said.

Wicha said many countries, such as Taiwan, Italy and France, activated a special prosecution process to deal with crimes committed by or involving government leaders.

In a related development, the Department of Special Investigation is considering an amendment to the provisions under which it was established in order to clear up conflicting legal interpretations of its jurisdiction, Justice permanent secretary Charan Pakdithanakul said yesterday.

He said it was currently not clear whether the DSI could handle cases related to collusion in bidding for government contracts.

"The Office of the Attorney General ruled against involving the DSI, but the Council of State disagreed," Charan said.

Another planned amendment would allow the DSI to join investigations by relevant law enforcement agencies at an early stage instead of having to wait for the cases to be transferred to the department, he said.