Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser is to stay in the post for a further six months after Government House was unable to find a suitable long-term replacement.

Mr. Ratneser said he was neither pleased nor disappointed with the extension to his tenure heading up the prosecutions office, but said he was happy to assist for a while longer. Mr. Ratneser was appointed to the acting position in March of this year while Government House looked both locally and overseas for candidates for the top job.

The Sri Lankan-born Australian citizen, who has been working in Bermuda on a work permit, agreed to stand in for the short-term, even though he was just over the maximum age limit for the post - 70.

And yesterday he agreed to stay longer, although he admitted he was also looking forward to getting back to his own job as senior counsel and head of the commercial litigation division at Lynda Milligan-Whyte & Associates.

"I'm neither pleased nor disappointed," said Mr. Ratneser last night.

"It's just that the Governor asked me to carry on, so I'm not going to say 'no'. I was planning to return to my office at Lynda Milligan-Whyte, where I have a three-year work permit to fulfil, but because of the present situation I have agreed to stay on and try to see if I can find someone."

Mr. Ratneser said he would be making some inquiries in the areas he was familiar with to see if anyone suitable was interested in the $127,000-a-year chief prosecutors job.

He said the understanding he had with Government House over the past few months had been that he would stay until a replacement was found, and he said that would now continue.

If a suitable candidate is found in a few weeks, then he said he may be gone a lot sooner than in six months.

"I can't say I have enjoyed it, but it's been very rewarding," added Mr. Ratneser.

"I can't stay on indefinitely - that is not an option - because there is an age limit to this job of 70 and I am just over 70.

"They are looking for a younger person, someone with experience - someone suitable."

But having been DPP three times before in different jurisdictions, he said he had taken the top prosecutor's job in his stride.

"It's not a difficult job," said Mr. Ratneser.

"I have done this three times before. It's been very challenging in the sense that Bermuda is very different to the places I have worked before, but it has been very rewarding."

And although the search for his replacement continues both locally and overseas, Mr. Ratneser said the ideal candidate would be Bermudian.

"We want somebody experienced and if we could find someone experienced in Bermuda that would be ideal.

"However, if that's not possible then one has to look overseas," he said.

The Government's department of communication and information late yesterday released a statement from Government House on the selection of the new DPP.

It said: "The panel which was convened to consider the appointment of a new Director of Public Prosecutions has advised the Governor that it is unable to recommend a candidate to him.

"The Governor has accepted this advice and has asked the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions to remain in this position for a further six months while the search for a substantive appointment continues. Mr. Ratneser has kindly agreed to do so."

Mr. Ratneser took over after Government House refused to automatically renew the three-year contract of former DPP Khamisi Tokunbo.

Mr. Tokunbo was asked to reapply for the position again once his original tenure had come to an end, but he refused.

Mr. Tokunbo initiated - but later discontinued - legal action against Government House and the Attorney General after his job was advertised.

However, a suitable candidate was not immediately found and Mr. Ratneser stepped in temporarily. And Mr. Tokunbo has since been appointed to the new post of Assistant Cabinet Secretary of Legislative Affairs.