Anwar says Shafee lied in his affidavit

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, who is facing an appeal against his Sodomy II acquittal and is applying to disqualify Muhammad Shafee Abdullah from leading the prosecution in the appeal, has pointed out inconsistencies in the senior lawyer's affidavit-in-reply.

The de facto PKR leader and MP for Permatang Pauh also claimed that it was "the known ambition" of Shafee that he wants to be the next attorney-general.

Anwar, in his reply to Shafee'saffidavit dated Dec 14, 2013, said it is a well known fact among the legal fraternity and politicians in Kuala Lumpur that Shafee wanted to replace Abdul Gani Patail.

"That explains why Shafee has been critical of Gani, as stated in (former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim's) statutory declaration (SD).

"I am concerned I will not get a fair appeal hearing as a result of Shafee's obsession to ‘curry favour' with the prime minister and senior government officers by securing success in this appeal, so that Shafee can be rewarded with the post of AG, which he covets so greatly," Anwar says in his affidavit-in-reply.

The hearing of Anwar's application to disqualify Shafee for a second time in his Sodomy II acquittal appeal by the Attorney-General's Chambers will be heard tomorrow.

Anwar cites three reasons for his argument:

• Shafee's knowledge about serious misconduct and criminal actions on the part of Gani;

• Compromises that Shafee may have made to get the fiat from the AG to lead the prosecution in relation to their conflict; and

• That his right to a fair trial (appeal) will be gravely prejudiced.

Shafee was appointed by Gani last July, through a fiat (power of attorney) to lead the prosecution team in the appeal against Anwar's acquittal on the Sodomy II charge. 

Shafee met with Mat Zain on Aug 10 this year and that meeting progressed to the two of them meeting with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the same day.

This led to Mat Zain to making his statutory declaration on the meeting he had with Shafee and Mahathir, which he affirmed on Oct 7.

Shafee's lies?

Anwar in his affidavit-in-reply to Shafee, also exposes several "lies" that Shafee made in his affidavit challenging the opposition leader's application to disqualify Shafee from leading the prosecution.

The first, as stated in Paragraph 7 of Shafee's affidavit is that the meeting Shafee had with Mat Zain was to determine "some facts and certain documents". However, Mat Zain informed
his family that Shafee told him Mahathir had wanted to meet him.

Secondly, Shafee stated that the decision to meet Mahathir was decided impromptu and there was no agenda to the meeting. This is a lie.

Furthermore, the senior lawyer stated that they met Mahathir on Aug 10, and on Aug 11 he attended an open house held by the former prime minister. However, Mahathir's open house was held on Aug 18.

Anwar relied on Mat Zain's response last Thursday, and thepolice report that the former top cop made on Sunday to argue the inconsistencies in Shafee's affidavit-in-reply.

Anwar also claimed that Shafee had made a false declaration in Paragraph 17(h) of his affidavit as it conflicted with his (Shafee's) own cautioned statement.

This cautioned statement was on his presence at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's residence when Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan (left) was there, and that he had made calls to former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan on the same night of this meeting.

Anwar was in January this year acquitted by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur of sodomising Mohd Saiful Bukhari at a Desa Damansara condominium unit between 3.15pm and 4pm on June 28, 2008. 

The trial judge, Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, ruled that he could not be 100 percent certain that the evidence could be accepted, as there could have been tampering and he therefore acquitted Anwar.