Anwar wants Najib, Shafee to reveal their bank accounts

The former opposition leader has filed an application for the court to compel both to provide details of their bank transactions during two specific periods, following reports of a RM9.5 million money transfer.

KUALA LUMPUR: Jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has applied for a court order to make Prime Minister Najib Razak disclose his bank accounts, following allegations that RM9.5 million was transferred to lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

In the application filed at the High Court today, Anwar wants the court to compel Najib to produce banks accounts for three months from August 2013 and another three months from January 2014.

He also wants Najib to reveal entries for the transactions on Sept 11, 2013 and Feb 17, 2014, allegedly showing payments of RM4.3 million and RM5.2 million respectively.

Anwar, who filed the application through legal firm Messrs Daim & Gamany, also wants Shafee to disclose his bank account details during the same period.

The PKR de facto leader in his supporting affidavit said there was a RM9.5 million payment to Shafee who was appointed ad-hoc prosecutor for the government in the Court of Appeal and Federal Court in Anwar’s sodomy trial.

“These payments were concealed from the courts and plaintiff (Anwar) and render Shafee as not an independent prosecutor,” he said.

He said all the documents requested for discovery were directly relevant to the RM9.5 million supposedly paid by Najib.

He said the payment particulars were within the sole knowledge of Najib and Shafee.

“It is incumbent on these two persons to make full discovery to enable the court to arrive at a decision in accordance with law,” Anwar said.

Last week, Anwar filed a suit to quash his sodomy conviction on grounds he was denied a fair trial and a just decision.

Two weeks ago online portal Sarawak Report reported that Shafee had received the money in two tranches in 2013 and 2014 from a personal bank account of Najib.

Anwar wants the court to set him free by setting aside the Court of Appeal’s decision in March 2014, which overturned his acquittal on a charge of sodomising a former PKR aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2008.

The decision was reaffirmed by the Federal Court on Feb 10, 2015, which sentenced Anwar to five years’ jail.

Shafee had told reporters last week that he would respond to the allegation on a later date. However, he did not specify the date.

At the trial stage, the prosecution was led by then solicitor-general Mohd Yusof Zainal Abidin.

Following Yusof’s early retirement, Shafee was given a licence to prosecute the case. He was appointed by then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail on July 11, 2013, to lead the prosecution team in the sodomy trial. -FMT