Mat Zain fires back at Umno lawyer Shafee for rubbishing his Batu Puteh claims

Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim wants to know why Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah responded to his statutory declarion (SD), if he thought it had no evidential value.

The former Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigation Department chief said he was also not surprised when Shafee launched a personal attack on him at the Court of Appeal on Thursday, for preparing the SD and sending it to Prime Minsiter Datuk Seri Najib Razak  and later distributing copies to the public.

Mat Zain said in an open letter made available to The Malaysian Insider: "I know Shafee has no reply to my SD, and the police report I made against him for filing a false affidavit."

Shafee, during the submission in a hearing to disqualify him as deputy public prosecutor, told the Court of Appeal on Thursday that the SD should be rejected on grounds that Mat Zain had blotted out his identity card number and address from the document.

The Court of Appeal today, in dismissing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's application to disqualify Shafee, agreed with the contention of the lawyer.

A three-man Court of Appeal bench led by Datuk Aziah Ali said Anwar's second application which relied on the SD lacked merit.

The court, Aziah had said, agreed with Shafee that the SD was hearsay evidence and Mat Zain was not available to ascertain the truth.

She had also said that there were latent defects in the SD as Mat Zain did not provide his identity card number and address which had been obliterated in the document.

Mat Zain, in his letter, asked why Shafee did not check with the prime minister, chief secretary to the government, the Solicitor General and the Inspector General of Police when copies were also sent to them.

He said he did not issue any statement to confirm of a plot at the legal office of Shafee or at the residence of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Mat Zain, in his 31-page SD, had said that he went with Shafee and former Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Ramli Yusof to Dr Mahathir's house during the Hari Raya period this year where they allegedly discussed the wrongdoings of Gani.

Mat Zain and Ramli had earlier in the day (August 10, 2013) met Shafee before they went to Dr Mahathir's residence in Seri Kembangan.

After speaking to Ramli on December 11, Mat Zain said he could now confirm that there was indeed a plot, not to remove Gani as AG but to set aside the acquittal of Anwar in the Court of Appeal.

"However, I do not know who is with Shafee or conspiring with him," he said.

Mat Zain said Shafee had revealed that Gani had protested the latter's appointment as DPP but the AG had to follow orders due to pressure from the top.

However, Shafee did not reveal who were the people from the top who had applied the pressure.

But Mat Zain said Shafee had made some negative remarks about Najib to him and Ramli, alleging that the prime minister was cautious and slow to act against Gani.

He once again urged the prime minister to initiate an investigation so that there would be no innocent party who would fall victim to the game played by Shafee.

"I am prepared to be investigated and cooperate, like providing information. I am prepared to face the consequences in court if I had violated any law," Mat Zain said, adding that the prime minister must be prepared to act against individuals who started this problem.