Muhammad Shafee granted RM1mil bail

KUALA LUMPUR: Senior lawyer Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has been allowed bail of RM1mil.

Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court Judge Azura Alwi granted him bail with two sureties with RM500,000 to be paid by Thursday (Sept 13), while the remaining RM500,000 is to be paid by Tuesday (Sept 18).

She also ordered Dr Muhammad Shafee to surrender both his diplomatic and Malaysian passports.

Earlier, Dr Muhammad Shafee claimed trial to two charges of receiving money from the proceeds of illegal activities.

He pleaded not guilty to two charges under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti Terrorism Financing Act 2001(AMLATFA) involving RM4.3mil and RM5.2mil received from former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He also pleaded not guilty to two charges under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLATFPUAA) 2001 with predicate offences of omitting the incomes of RM4.3mil and RM5.2mil under the Income Tax Act.

The prosecution was led by Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram.

Dr Muhammad Shafee was at the Johor Baru High Court to attend to a case on Wednesday (Sept 12) morning and had returned to Kuala Lumpur.

He was scheduled to fly to Penang to handle a Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 case.

He was arrested at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Aiport in Subang before the scheduled flight on Thursday morning.

Dr Muhammad Shafee is leading the defence team for Najib's charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power.

On Sept 6, the Attorney General's Chamber issued an affidavit claiming that Dr Muhammad Shafee received payments amounting to RM9.5mil from Najib between 2013 and 2014.

Allegations have surfaced that the payments were made to prosecute Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the Sodomy II appeals at the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.

Dr Muhammad Shafee denied the allegations, saying that the payments were for legal services done for Umno and Barisan Nasional.