THE High Court in Kuala Lumpur today allowed the return of Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s passport for seven days to enable him to travel to Australia for a meeting with a British barrister.

Judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin allowed the release of the lawyer’s passport from September 6 to 12 after deputy public prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz raised no objection.

Earlier, Shafee told the court that there were some corrections in the supporting affidavit, which had been submitted to the court as a bail condition.

“In the affidavit, I only stated that I’ll meet the Queen’s Counsel, Geoffrey Robertson, in Melbourne. I ask Your Honour for permission to amend it by adding Sydney as the location of the meeting.

“This is because he has a house in Melbourne, but he operates from his brother’s firm, so I may have to go to both places,” he said.

His lawyer, Wee Yeong Kang, then requested the court allow the application, with the passport to be returned to the court on September 14, 2022.

Prior to this, Shafee – who was the lead counsel in jailed former prime minister Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd and 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) cases – had been allowed to travel abroad on several occasions after he was charged.

The 70-year-old lawyer surrendered his passport to the court in September 2018 after he was charged with two counts of receiving money totalling RM9.5 million, allegedly from illegal activities, through two cheques issued by Najib, which were deposited into his CIMB Bank Berhad account.

Shafee is also facing two charges of submitting incorrect tax returns and in violation of Paragraph 113(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act 1967 for the financial years ending December 31, 2013, and December 31, 2014.

On May 12, the prosecution rested after calling eight witnesses. The oral submission has been fixed for September 15 before judge Muhammad Jamil. – Bernama, September 5, 2022.