PHILIPSBURG--The Prosecutor's Office has denied claims that its requesting a review of Cor Merx's appointment to the local bar is a witch hunt against the former chief prosecutor.

Solicitor General A.C. van der Schans (not Hans van der Schans) suggested in an appointment hearing some months ago that the Court weigh allegations of legal malpractice against Merx before the appointment. A response from the Court is expected soon.

"We think the Court was not justly informed," Mud told The Daily Herald about the early March appointment. "We have a legal duty to safeguard the [office against] people who are unfit."

Mud insisted that prosecutors would have questioned any problematic appointment. He explained that reporters had already put the theory to him and said the prosecutors would have to treat Merx's appointment the same as that of any lawyer. "It is absolutely not a witch hunt."

Merx headed the Prosecutor's Office until a 2005 investigation into his misuse of power – to spy on a former companion – led to a conviction and to his being barred from public office.

He was admitted to the bar recently as an attorney-at-law.

The Prosecutor's Office said the Court might have ruled differently after the admittance hearings if it had weighed the alleged incident.