Anwar seeks to disqualify Shafee again

Anwar Ibrahim claims Shafee was concealing evidence of attorney-general’s wrongdoings, thus making Shafee unreliable to lead the prosecution in the sodomy appeal case

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim will once again seek to disqualify prominent lawyer Mohamad Shafee Abdullah from leading the government’s prosecution team in the sodomy II appeal case on grounds of the latter’s alleged past deeds of concealing evidences.

This  is following former KL criminal investigation department chief Mat Zain Ibrahim’s statutory declaration recently that accused Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail for corruption, which led to the loss of Pulau Batu Puteh island to Singapore in the international court.

According to Mat Zain’s statement, Shafee has also claimed in a private meeting that he allegedly procured information that Gani received large sums of money credited into the latter’s account in Hong Kong.

During a media conference at the Parliament’s lobby today, Anwar criticised Shafee for not lodging report with the anti-corruption commission despite having information that is of national interest.

“How can a person with such credibility of concealing evidences about the bank account of the AG be entrusted by the government to lead the prosecution against my appeal case?

“I will discuss it with my lawyer to immediately initiate a motion with the federal court to disqualify him,” he said.

He also urged the government to open investigation into the allegations raised by Mat Zain in the statutory declaration.

Anwar failed twice to disqualify Shafee, as the judges said they saw no reason to nullify Shafee’s position.

It was previously reported that Shafee has, in a meeting with Mat Zain, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and former CID chief Ramli Yusoff, discussed about Gani’s ‘misconducts’ in representing the government during the Pulau Batu Puteh case.

Mahathir reportedly later asked for Gani to be removed as AG in another meeting he had with Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.