Mat Zain files police report against Shafee, says lawyer is lying

Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim has lodged a police report against Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (pic), saying the Umno lawyer’s affidavit to the Court of Appeal contained inaccuracies, an offence under the law.

The former Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigation Department director lodged the report at the Setapak police station this afternoon.

Shafee had filed the affidavit at the Court of Appeal last week in response to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's second application to disqualify the lawyer from representing Putrajaya as deputy public prosecutor in the government’s appeal against Anwar’s acquittal on the second sodomy charge.

Anwar's application will be heard in the Court of Appeal on December 19, Thursday.

In his police report, Mat Zain claimed Shafee had committed at least two offences under the Penal Code, the first for making false statements in the affidavit.

He alleged that Shafee had also suppressed material evidence with the intention of deceiving the court.

He said that Shafee had received from him a set of documents on September 24, 2013.

"These were documents Shafee had asked from me after meeting Tun Dr Mahathir Muhamad at his residence last August 10, the third day of Hari Raya," he said.

Shafee told reporters on Wednesday that he had filed an affidavit on what transpired in his legal firm and at the residence of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Shafee went on to say that Mat Zain had "slanted" what he had said in his October 7 statutory declaration (SD).

"My affidavit is supported by former (Commercial Crime Investigations Department director) Datuk Ramli Yusuff. I do not need to ask Matthias Chang to affirm it, and there is no need to trouble Tun (Dr Mahathir Mohamad)," Shafee said when asked to respond to the contents of the SD.

The SD by Mat Zain was prepared following a meeting in Dr Mahathir's house, attended by, among others, Dr Mahathir's former political secretary Matthias Chang, and Ramli, who had briefed the former premier over his run-ins with Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

Shafee had vowed to expose in court a link between Mat Zain and Anwar as the former had filed a defamation suit against the former prime minister, but was not serious about the case, resulting in the court striking out the matter.

Mat Zain had then shot back at Shafee, claiming the contents in the affidavit was "a load of rubbish".

Anwar filed the application on December 6 using Mat Zain's SD as grounds to disqualify Shafee, saying Shafee's appointment to lead the prosecution team would deny him a fair trial.

The PKR de-facto leader said that Shafee knew of Gani's illegal actions in the Pulau Batu Puteh territorial dispute between Malaysia and Singapore.

Anwar said the SD also pointed to Gani and former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Musa Hassan's involvement in fabricating evidence in the "black eye" incident of 1998.

The alleged fabrication took place when Gani was said to have brought in pathologist Dr Abdul Rahman Yusoff to accuse Anwar in court of self-inflicted injuries, contradicting medical reports.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry ended with an admission by former police chief Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor that he had beaten Anwar hours after his arrest on September 20, 1998.

Anwar had in 2008 filed a police report against Gani and Musa, who was involved in the first sodomy case brought against Anwar.

A three-member committee, comprising retired judges, formed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), cleared the duo.

Shafee reportedly agreed during the meeting in Dr Mahathir's house that the MACC committee was illegal.

On November 21, the Federal Court dismissed Anwar's appeal, declaring that Gani could give a temporary licence to Shafee to lead the prosecution. Anwar then filed an application to dismiss Shafee on the grounds that the appointment was illegal.

Anwar, 66, was acquitted by the High Court on January 9 last year on a charge of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan at a Desa Damansara condominium unit in Bukit Damansara in 2008.