KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 — The High Court here today allowed the application by lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who faces two charges of money laundering and another two for committing offences under the Income Tax Act, for temporary custody of his passport which had been handed over to the court.
Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah granted Muhammad Shafee, 66, temporary custody of the travel document after his lawyer, Wan Aizuddin Wan Mohammed informed that his client needed to go to Sabah to handle a criminal case at the High Court in Tawau.
“We had asked for temporary release of the passport (before this). He (Muhammad Shafee) has to handle a case in Sabah and needs a work pass,” he said during case management where Muhammad Shafee was not present.
Wan Aizuddin applied for the release of the passport from today until disposal of the case in January, next year.
Deputy public prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz did not object to the lawyer’s application.
Justice Sequerah allowed the release of the passport effective today until Jan 17, 2019 and ordered the accused to return his passport to the court after this date.
After the case management, Wan Aizuddin explained to reporters that a lawyer from Peninsular Malaysia handling a case in Sabah would first need to obtain a work visa from the Sabah Immigration Department and the documentation process would require the lawyer’s passport. — Bernama
