Why respond to my statement if it has no value, Mat Zain asks Shafee

Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim wants to know why Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah responded to his statutory declaration (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.