PROMINENT lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today obtained the High Court’s approval to have his passport released for a month, as he wants to fly to Italy to attend to his two daughters’ educational matters.

According to a report in Malaysiakini, the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning allowed Shafee’s application to have his passport temporarily released from July 8 to August 11.

Muhammad Jamil Hussin, the presiding judge over Shafee’s RM9.5 million money-laundering case, gave the go-ahead for the lawyer’s application. 

The lawyer’s counsel, Wee Yeong Kang confirmed that the court allowed the temporary release, with no objections raised by deputy public prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz.

“He (judge) was satisfied with the grounds stated in our affidavit (in support of the application).

“(It is) to visit his (oldest) daughter and manage the school transfer for his (younger) daughter in Italy,” Wee was quoted as saying by the news portal. 

The counsel added that Shafee’s trial would resume on September 15. 

According to a copy of the application filed on June 24 by law firm Shafee & Co, the lawyer wished to meet his second daughter there and assist in the transfer of her studies from the International School in Milan to the International School of Kuala Lumpur.

Shafee also wished to visit his oldest daughter, who is currently studying at John Cabot University in Rome. 

The cause papers stated that the lawyer sought the interim passport release so he could book a flight to Italy at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on July 8 and come back to Malaysia to renew his passport before handing back the document to court by August 12. 

On October 25 last year, the same court allowed the temporary release of the accused’s passport so he could fly to New York to manage the settling in of his son’s higher education there.

Previously, Shafee surrendered his passport to the court as part of bail conditions in his ongoing trial for alleged money-laundering involving RM9.5 million received from former prime minister Najib Razak. – June 30, 2022.