Decision to issue affidavit on RM9.5mil alleged payment to Shafee came from AG, court told

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal here was told that the instruction to issue an affidavit, claiming that RM9.5mil was paid to lawyer Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah came from Attorney General Tommy Thomas. 
 
This was said by Senior Federal Counsel Zureen Elina Mohd Dom during a proceeding here on Friday (Sept 14) after a three-man panel led by Justice Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid questioned the veracity of the affidavit, which was signed by an officer at the Attorney General Chambers, Siti Rahayu Mohd Mumazaini, on Sept 5. 
 
Justice Umi Kalthum said she found the filing of the affidavit peculiar. 
 
SFC Zureen then replied that the affidavit contained fresh evidence. 
 
“The instruction came from the AG himself. The reason being is that the AG was of the view that he (the AG) has a duty to inform the truth to the court since he is an officer of the court,” she said here.
 
Justices Yeoh Wee Siam and Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal also sat on the panel.   

The proceeding was initially fixed for hearing in an appeal by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to reinstate his lawsuit against the Government, relating to his sodomy conviction.
 
Anwar claimed that Dr Muhammad Shafee was paid RM9.5mil from former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to lead the prosecution team in the appeal.
 
Earlier, the court was informed by Anwar’s lawyer Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram that his team had received a notice of motion from Dr Muhammad Shafee who is applying to intervene in the case. 
 
He asked for the court to fix a new date for him to go over the documents. 
The court then fixed Sept 21 for a re-mention and Nov 29 to hear Dr Muhammad Shafee’s application to intervene. 
 
On June 9, 2017, Anwar filed the originating summons, claiming he did not get a fair trial in the appeal against his sodomy conviction.
 
He had sought a declaration that his conviction by the Court of Appeal on March 7, 2014 was ultra vires the Federal Constitution and thus null and void.
 
He also wanted an order that the decision by the Federal Court in upholding the Court of Appeal’s decision was ultra vires and therefore null and void.
 
In his affidavit, he claimed that Dr Muhammad Shafee received RM9.5mil from Najib to lead the prosecution team in the appeal over his sodomy conviction.
 
The Government filed the application to strike out Anwar’s suit on the grounds that it was petty, had no cause of action and was an abuse of the court process.
 
On Nov 8 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court struck out the suit after allowing the Government’s application.
 
Anwar is appealing against the High Court’s decision. 
 
Anwar’s conviction and five-year jail term was for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, which was upheld by the Federal Court. Anwar, however, was given full pardon by the King on May 16 this year.