The Bermuda Bar Association yesterday issued a statement to publicly disassociate itself from criticisms of the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) made by lawyer Trevor Moniz.

While president of the Association Mr. Moniz made a number of public statements criticising the DPP's office.

During its annual general meeting in April, members of the DPP's office proposed a motion demanding that Mr. Moniz make a statement saying that his widely disseminated views were his alone and not on behalf of the organisation.

While most of the members agreed with the principle of the motion, some called for another meeting to decide the matter. That meeting took place this week.

"It was resolved that the Bermuda Bar Association publicly disassociate itself from the comments of Mr. Trevor Moniz concerning the office of the DPP made in certain press statements," according to a press statement from Bar Association president David Kessaram.

Mr. Kessaram replaced Mr. Moniz as president in April.

Mr. Moniz, who is also a candidate for the United Bermuda Party, had been making headlines with consistent criticism of the DPP's office.

In February, he told broadcast media that "everyone knows we have a weak department of prosecutions" and that the Police were not getting adequate co-operation from the department.

That drew an angry written response from the then DPP Khamisi Tokunbo, who denied the allegations and accused Mr. Moniz of being politically motivated.

Mr. Moniz was also taken to task for his attacks by Government Senate Leader David Burch who told the Senate in March that the Opposition MP had been misinforming the public for saying that Mr. Tokunbo had been out of his depth and was only appointed because he is black.

But Mr. Moniz stuck to his guns.