THE Malaysian Bar has urged police to investigate the “serious” allegations that the lead prosecutor in Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial was paid RM9.5 million by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Bar president George Varughese told FMT that while it would be premature for the Bar to refer the lawyer to the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board due to insufficient evidence of misconduct, police must launch a thorough investigation quickly.

“Police must probe the case thoroughly since the allegation is very serious,” said Varughese.

On May 31, whistleblower site Sarawak Report reported that prominent Umno lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the lead prosecutor in Anwar’s trial, was paid RM9.5 million directly from Najib’s 1MDB slush fund accounts.

It reported that Najib allegedly paid Shafee RM5.2 million in February 2014 and RM4.3 million in September 2013. 

Sarawak Report said the money came from the bank account “that had been identified as having been funded by money from the 1MDB subsidiary SRC, which had borrowed some RM4 billion from the civil service pension fund KWAP”.

The report alleged that Shafee received the first payment of RM5.2 million in February 2014, just two weeks before the Appeal Court overturned the acquittal of Anwar of sodomy charges. 

Shafee was the public prosecutor in the successful appeal.

Shafee has declined to respond to The Malaysian Insight’s requests for comment.

Yesterday, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman filed a report urging police to investigate the whistleblower’s claims for the sake of the good name of the Malaysian judiciary. – June 3, 2017.