Anwar to Najib: What’s your deal with Shafee?

The prime minister must explain his alleged role in ordering a senior lawyer to go on a 'sensitive legal assignment'.

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak must reveal all on the trip abroad of a senior lawyer supposedly acting on the government’s behalf, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said.

He said that senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s affairs were “shrouded in secrecy”, and that Najib owed an explanation as public funds were involved.

“Most of these cases [are] all shrouded in secrecy, [especially with the] usage of public funds or using the basis of trying to go on behalf of the PM and his wife (Rosmah Mansor). Both Najib and Shafee have to explain,” he said.

Anwar was referring to a letter allegedly written by Shafee to senior judges seeking postponement of his cases from April 1 to 25.

In the letter, Shafee was allegedly appointed on behalf of the government, especially by Najib and Rosmah, to carry out a “sensitive legal assignment”.

Opposition leaders have asked if the assignment was linked to the French judiciary’s investigation into the RM7.3 billion Scorpene submarine deal, which is allegedly linked to Najib and the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Sharibuu.

The letter, which was revealed by PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution on Tuesday, was addressed to Chief Justice Ariffin Zakaria, Court of Appeal president Md Raus Sharif and Chief Judge of Malaya Ahmad Makinudin.

It added that Shafee’s assignment had to be “completed before the general election”, and that it involved him travelling to New York, London, Dubai, Paris and Basel, Switzerland.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz previously told Parliament that the government did not appoint Shafee for the alleged assignment.

Anwar said that Malaysian judiciary had much to explain as well.

“Writing a letter like that to the court! We not only want to hear from the government but from the court. What has the court have to say upon their receiving of such a letter? Can they accept [this]?”

“Let’s see what the court has to say since they claim that the judiciary is getting more independent,” he said.