THE government will look into claims that lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had received money from former prime minister Najib Razak to prosecute PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the allegations against Shafee will be tackled eventually as there were currently other issues involving Najib that were of greater priority.

“There are many charges against (former prime minister) Najib Razak. Many wrong things he has done. But we have to choose which ones we want to manage first.

“Already there are charges framed against him. I’m quite sure in time, we will, as investigations take time because we don’t always get the full cooperation of those who know the facts or the documents to back the allegations,” said Dr Mahathir after chairing the Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting in Petaling Jaya today.

He was asked whether Putrajaya will begin investigations into allegations that Shafee was paid RM9.5 million by Najib to prosecute Anwar.

Anwar yesterday said an affidavit by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) had backed his claim that the Umno lawyer was paid RM9.5 million after prosecuting him.

Anwar had previously alleged that Najib paid Shafee the amount from September 2013 to February 2014, when the lawyer was made special prosecutor in Anwar’s sodomy appeal at the Federal Court.

“The affidavit is being released to the public. I believe that in the ‘New Malaysia’, we must be uncompromising in our commitment to the rule of law, and to re-establishing the credibility of the judiciary and legal fraternity.

“These abuses of power should not be allowed to continue, and there must be accountability,” he said in a statement released by his office.

Anwar said his lawyers have handed him an affidavit signed by an AGC officer that “substantiates our allegation of substantial payments” made to Shafee.

“I maintain that Shafee should never have been allowed to prosecute the appeal in the first place.” – September 7, 2018.