Ketiga2 Cubaan Gugur Shafee Gagal, Anwar Siap Sedia Di Penjara Kali Kedua

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Third strike in Anwar’s bid to disqualify Shafee
By Pathma Subramaniam
March 03, 2014
Latest Update: March 03, 2014 07:14 pm



The three-men panel agreed with Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s argument that Anwar’s applications were vexatious and an abuse of court process. — Picture by Choo

PUTRAJAYA, March 3 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was today a third time unlucky in his bid to bar prominent Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah from heading the prosecution team in the government’s appeal against the opposition leader’s sodomy acquittal.

The Court of Appeal also rejected an application for a stay pending appeal filed by Anwar’s lead counsel, Karpal Singh, allowing the government to proceed with its appeal against Anwar’s acquittal on January 9, 2012 of allegedly sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in mid-2008.

Justice Datuk Balia Yusof Wahi, when reading out the three-men panel’s unanimous decision, dismissed Anwar’s application as “made to delay the government’s appeal” and “an abuse of process”.

Balia added that the case appeared to be traversing the maze of the courts at a “snail’s pace” and had made “no progress" since July last year.

The government’s appeal will now proceed as scheduled on Thursday and Friday.

In an immediate reaction, Anwar said today’s decision “was no surprise”.

All three judges — Balia, Datuk Aziah Ali and Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh — agreed with Muhammad Shafee’s argument that Anwar’s applications were vexatious and an abuse of court process.

The judge said Muhammad Shafee’s appointment as a deputy public prosecutor is “under the sole discretion” of the Attorney-General (A-G) in accordance with the Federal Constitution.

The appellate court also rejected Karpal’s assertion that Muhammad Shafee’s appointment would create a conflict of interest as the latter would be required to take the side of former police officer Jude Blacious Pereira.

Shafee had previously led 2009 Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) inquiry panel that had found Pereira to be “an untruthful witness”.

Pereira was the investigation officer in Anwar’s second sodomy case.

Balia added that the Muhammad Shafee’s role in the inquiry “bears no relevance” to the current case.

However, the bench refused to grant Muhammad Shafee’s request for Anwar to bear the cost of the repeated challenges, saying it was an attempt to “delay” the second sodomy appeal.

Earlier today, Karpal sought to have Muhammad Shafee disqualified by arguing that the latter is unfit to be appointed deputy public prosecutor as he was tainted by a disciplinary breach.

Karpal pointed out that Muhammad Shafee flouted a rule stipulated under the Legal Profession Publicity Rules 2001 and was fined RM5,000 by the Bar Council on October 5, 2012.

“He was found guilty of advertising himself in an article and charged with misconduct with the liability of struck off,” said Karpal.

Karpal noted that the Kuala Lumpur High Court had upheld the Bar’s decision against Muhammad Shafee, making a point that while the latter’s appointment is the prerogative of the A-G, a deputy public prosecutor should be a “personality of the highest-standing” and “not one with a tarnished reputation”.

In reply, Shafee said both the Bar Council and the High Court’s decisions did not cause his disbarment.

He added that the disciplinary action was brought against him following his description as “prominent”, which he said was also used on occasion for Karpal.

“I have to point out that the appellant’s counsel was also on occasions painted a prominent lawyer as well as several other legal firms, and I had raised these to the Bar but they are insistent on the matter.

“It a case of the pot calling the kettle black,” said Muhammad Shafee.

“The latest application is nothing more than a vexatious attempt and a waste of court time as it is only meant to delay the appeal proceeding,” hit out Muhammad Shafee.

Anwar had first challenged the legality of Muhammad Shafee’s appointment under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) but this was by dismissed by the Court of Appeal and later by the Federal Court on November 20.

Karpal retorted Muhammad Shafee’s disciplinary offence should not be disregarded as a “minor” problem and that Anwar should be allowed to exhaust all legal avenues available.

The PKR de facto leader, in December, then used former Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim’s statutory declaration as grounds to file his second application to disqualify Muhammad Shafee from leading the government’s prosecution team.

Mat Zain had accused Shafee, a prominent Umno lawyer, of complicity in several other legal matters. The Federal Court, however, rejected the application on February 11.

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