Shafee says explained RM9.5m issue to MACC
Published on: Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Kuala Lumpur: Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (pic) said he had again explained to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on why he was paid RM9.5 million by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, after his related bank account was frozen.Shafee, who is a senior private lawyer, said he had already explained to the MACC about a year ago regarding the RM9.5 million payment during its routine investigation on the payment which became an issue because of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal."I had brought with me documents showing the files that I have billed and my banking documents to reflect the receipt of the RM9.5 Million and their disbursements," he said in a six-page press statement today.
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As for his recent statement to MACC about the same RM9.5 million issue, Shafee said he had done so after the MACC froze his CIMB bank account that was used to receive the payment and make the disbursements."That particular account was frozen by MACC without any notification to me until I found out on my own when some of my cheques bounced and I had to replace them to the relevant payees with other cheques," he said.Earlier, Shafee had clarified that the RM9.5 million was not payment for his work as a special prosecutor in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II appeals.Shafee explained that the RM9.5 million that he received from Najib was payment for RM11 million worth of legal work that he had done for Barisan Nasional for 46 election petition cases in 2004 and 2006.
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Shafee said that he was made to understand that Najib — who was also the then Umno president and then Barisan Nasional chairman — was responsible for handling the party's funds as it was a normal party practice, and that he had at that time no knowledge of the source of Najib's payments to him."Najib would be able to confirm the reason for the RM9.5 million being paid to me," he said later in the same statement.
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Meanwhile, Shafee said that he was appointed to be the lead prosecutor in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II appeals as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had demanded for it.Shafee explained that the then-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was not keen to appoint him as prosecutor by way of fiat as he did not want to offend the then Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail."In fact, he (Najib) was most reluctant. However, it was Dr Mahathir who insisted that I be appointed as the special prosecutor in the Anwar's appeals as Mahathir did not have the confidence that the Attorney General's Chambers would be able to competently manage the appeals. This is probably due to the fact that the Attorney General's Chambers had lost the Sodomy II case in the High Court. Further, they had lost earlier in the Federal Court the Sodomy I case," he said in a six-page statement.Shafee further claimed that Dr Mahathir had through lawyer Matthias Chang summoned him around June or July 2013 for a meeting at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya, adding that he had learnt that Najib as the then-prime minister was invited to meet Dr Mahathir at a slightly earlier time."I learned subsequently that Mahathir has managed to persuade Najib to convince the Attorney General to appoint me by way of FIAT as a special prosecutor in these appeals. I was told of this after Najib had left the Perdana Foundation, by Mahathir himself."I learnt from Matthias Chang that my appointment as the special prosecutor was the first of the six demands Mahathir made to Najib at that meeting, for otherwise he would go against Najib," Shafee claimed.Shafee said he was then informed within a matter of days by both Dr Mahathir's office and the Prime Minister's Office to meet the AG for the purposes of the appointment as everything had been agreed to for his appointment as prosecutor in the Anwar case.Shafee said that a written agreement dated July 19, 2013 was drafted with the terms of his appointment as an ad hoc deputy public prosecutor by way of fiat, including the term that RM1,000 would be the consideration for his appointment."For purposes of record, I have never taken a single cent from the government of Malaysia or anybody else in relation to my undertaking of the prosecution of the appeals. I must stress that even the RM1,000 was never claimed by me to date," he said, having said that the then-AG and Najib were "fully aware" of the contract's terms.Shafee's statement today was made after a renewed controversy on the reason for his RM9.5 million payment from Najib in the past, with Anwar questioning the payment allegedly made during the timeframe when Shafee was acting as the lead prosecutor in the Sodomy II appeals.Shafee today clarified in the same statement that the RM9.5 million payment that he received was not for his services as prosecutor in Anwar's Sodomy II appeals, but explained that it was for his legal work done for 46 election petitions for Barisan Nasional in 2004 and 2006.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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