PUTRAJAYA, July 22 — An otherwise routine request to adjourn the government’s appeal against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II case turned controversial after prosecutors announced prominent Umno lawyer Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as head of the team.
This drew an objection from the defence, who argued a conflict of interest.
According to news reports, Shafee has been given a fiat (authority) by the Attorney-General to argue the case on behalf of the prosecution.
The Court of Appeal later agreed to adjourn the hearing to August 1 as lead counsel for the defence, Karpal Singh, has been hospitalised.
The three-member panel comprising Justices Datuk Ramly Ali, Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh agreed to the defence application for a postponement after co-counsel and Karpal’s son, Ramkarpal Singh Deo, told the court that his father had been warded for joint problems.
The defence team was also told by the Bench to raise their objection when the hearing starts in August.
Speaking to reporters outside the court later, Shafee said he regarded his role in leading the prosecution team against Anwar as a “public service”.
“That is very officious in terms of remuneration. It is one of those public services when you are called upon to do. I will do it,” he said, adding that the contract between him and the A-G’s Chambers was finalised last Friday.
“Just as I am being appointed for other positions for law, I will do it even there is no emolument. I consider this a public service,” said Shafee, reputedly Malaysia’s best-paid lawyer.
The lawyer, known for his close links to the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s lynchpin party Umno, also said he was confident of presenting his case within three hours.
Anwar’s eldest daughter and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah had also commented on Shafee’s appointment on Twitter and reiterated to The Malay Mail Online that having the private lawyer head the government’s team was a conflict of interest, but did not elaborate, saying only that the defence would explain when the case was next heard.
“Yes, we will be raising this as an objection when court commences next,” Nurul Izzah told The Malay Mail Online.
Shafee had been accused of conspiring with government officials from the Prime Minister’s Office to subvert the media and end the political career of the man once deemed the biggest threat to the 13-party BN three years ago, at the height of the Sodomy II trial where he had commented on the ongoing case.
But the prominent lawyer had denied the allegation raised by a blogger who called himself Ahmat Gaza, saying the claims were an attempt to plunge the country’s government institutions into chaos in order to enable a takeover of Putrajaya, although stopping short of attributing them to the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact headed by Anwar.
Shafee rubbished claims that it was a clandestine meeting and admitted that he had met with several media workers at the swanky Le Meridien Hotel in the national capital on August 23, 2011, saying it was organised by Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia to explain the meaning and impact of contempt in law.
“My job as a media lawyer is to educate them… It was very legal to educate the media… All responsible media owe a duty to the public to report the truth… My meeting [with the media] is reflected in an Utusan report on August 24. It was not a secret,” Shafee was quoted as telling The Malaysian Insider then.
Anwar and his wife, PKR president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail were also present in court.
Speaking to reporters outside the court today, the opposition leader questioned Shafee’s objectivity to lead the prosecution given the latter’s previous allegations against him.
“He has been known to cast aspersions against me, within and outside, for whatever dubious reasons,” he said.
In January last year, Anwar was found innocent of the charge he sodomised former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan at the Desa Damansara condominium in Kuala Lumpur on June 26, 2008.
High Court judge Datuk Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah acquitted Anwar after ruling that DNA samples were tampered with.
