Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has insisted that the opposition is the only one unhappy with his roadshows on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's second sodomy case. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, January 21, 2016.
Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today that only the "opposition" had been unhappy with his roadshows on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's second sodomy case last year, and that he would do it again if given the chance.
This was despite lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan saying during cross-examination that Shafee's roadshows had prompted non-opposition-linked individuals to criticise the Umno lawyer through the media.
These included former attorney-general Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, de facto law minister Nancy Shukri and law professor Gurdial Singh Nijarere.
"There were negative comments from just one section of the public. The opposition," said Shafee, who was testifying in his defamation suit against the Malaysian Bar and three others.
"Despite all these articles, you don't agree there was a public outcry?" asked Ambiga, referring to the numerous news reports critical of Shafee's talks.
"I don't agree," said Shafee.
When presented with the articles in court, Shafee merely acknowledged that the individuals seemed to be critical of him, and that he was unsure how true the reports were.
Shafee, the deputy public prosecutor in Anwar's second sodomy appeal, had appeared in two Umno-organised events last year to explain the Federal Court's conviction against the former opposition leader.
Meanwhile, Shafee also denied today that his appearance in the forums affected his impartiality as an ad hoc deputy public prosecutor.
This was despite Ambiga saying to him that Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had said in one of the forums, their aim was to "defend Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno" from allegations that the sodomy case was a political conspiracy. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/umnos-turn-to-go-public-on-anwars-sodomy-case-says-khairy
"Umno through Khairy may have their own agenda. I wasn't there to support their agenda," said Shafee in response.
"After Khairy said the sole purpose of the talk was to protect BN and Umno, when you stood up, did you immediately say this was not the purpose of the talk?" asked Ambiga.
"I didn't, and I didn't have to," said Shafee, without elaborating further.
But he said he still believed the talks were necessary to counteract the "lies" from the opposition and "some leaders of the Bar Council".
"Such forums are necessary to provide an equaliser to all the lies that have been told by the leaders of the Bar – that I was a member of the 'persecuting team', that I had an agenda.
"My reputation was affected and I was part of the prosecution team. Therefore, the forum was necessary," said Shafee.
"So your primary aim was not to defend the federal court judgment, but yourself?" asked Ambiga.
"The aims are consistent. The judgment was in my favour, the court said there was no political conspiracy. So by defending myself, I'm defending the court judgment," said Shafee.
Shafee had named the Malaysian Bar, former Bar president Christopher Leong, Tommy Thomas and Tan Sri V.C. George as defendants in his defamation suit.
Thomas and George, two senior members of the Malaysian Bar, had urged the Bar Council to take action against Shafee over his conduct following Anwar's sodomy conviction by the Federal Court.
The two said from the time the Federal Court convicted Anwar on February 10 last year, Shafee, who was the deputy public prosecutor in the case, had behaved in a repugnant and obnoxious manner, which brought the legal profession into disrepute.
In their motion submitted at the Bar annual general meeting, the two senior lawyers also urged the incoming council for the 2015-2016 term to lodge a report against Shafee with the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board.
They said steps had to be taken to further prevent Shafee from bringing the legal profession into further disrepute.
Shafee was said to have violated the Legal Profession (Publicity) Rules 2001, which prohibited lawyers from publicising themselves or their practice in any manner.
They also said while Shafee was backed by forces of the state, he was not above the law.
Lawyers Lambert Rasaratnam and Andrew Chiew are appearing for the Bar and Leong, while Ambiga is appearing for Thomas and Datuk Porres Royan for George, who is a former Court of Appeal judge.
The trial before Datuk Hanipah Farikullah is scheduled to go on until January 29.
- TMI
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