Shafee: I've said nothing about AG's 'misconduct'

Senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has denied commenting on any alleged misconduct against Attorney-General (AG) Abdul Gani Patail, in particular over Malaysia’s loss of Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore.

"I have never insinuated or mentioned (anything) about funds in Hong Kong and such like," Shafee says in his 26-page affidavit he filed yesterday to rebut claims made by former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim in a statutory declaration (SD).

Describing Mat Zain as an “angry man”, Shafee denied ever receiving any information whatsoever on  Gani's (right) purported conduct and control over the Pulau Batu Puteh case that was decided by the International Court of Justice in The Netherlands on May 23, 2008.

“I have never commented that the AG/or his team submitted fabricated evidence to the ICJ, in particular the most shocking doctored photograph of the island's location, which was allegedly tendered during the proceedings. Neither did I say on any concealment of materials of the ICJ by Abdul Gani or anyone else,” he says in his affidavit.

Shafee further denied that he had commented on Anwar Ibrahim's ‘black-eye’ investigation that Mat Zain had headed.

"... all those matters attributed by Mat Zain to me are hearsay if they emanate from me and cannot be the subject or catalyst for any responsible police report against anyone," he says.

Shafee reiterated his denial of a plot conceived by himself, Mat Zain, former Commercial CID director Ramli Yusuff, Matthias Chang and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to unseat Gani.

Any such suggestion is mischievous, he said, warning of defamation action to come against certain newspapers, tabloids and blogs that have carried such reports.

He also claimed that Mat Zain had, when making his SD, decided to make it public on Dec 2, so as to cause the prosecution's appeal against the acquittal of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim in the Sodomy II case to be delayed.

Meeting to get facts on black-eye incident

Shafee claims in his affidavit that the meeting he had with Mat Zain, along with Ramli was to get certain facts and documents.

Since he had represented Ramli (left) in all four of his criminal cases, Shafee said, the former CCID director had wanted him (Shafee) to represent him in a civil suit against other personalities in the government and that included the AG, among others.

“Ramli was of the view that the black-eye case was the beginning of his worsening relationship with the AG. Ramli was with me to pay respects to Mahathir on Aug 10.”

The conversation he had with Mat Zain and Ramli at his house, Shafee explained, centred upon on Mat Zain's many investigations, including Anwar's black-eye case.

“What Mat Zain said about the black-eye case was already in public domain and was never something new or exciting,” he says, adding this then obliged him to assess Ramli's case and that up to now, he had “not agreed to be Ramli's counsel in his civil suit”.

“The idea of Mat Zain coming along to visit Mahathir was decided impromptu at my office. There was no agenda to meet Mahathir except to pay our respects to Tun,” the lawyer says of the Aug 10 meeting at Mahathir's house.

Ramli had filed his suit against Gani, former IGP Musa Hassan and the MACC last month.

Shafee said Mat Zain seemed to be an angry man in being dissatisfied with the way the authorities handled the allegations on the fabrication of the black-eye incident, for which implicated Gani, Musa, Hospital Kuala Lumpur pathologist Dr Abdul Rahman Yusof and Mat Zain.

A special three-member panel comprising former senior judges, who acted as ad-hoc DPPs, absolved Musa and Gani of any fabrication of evidence. Shafee had said this three member panel was legal.

Mat Zain, Shafee said, felt the decision by the panel meant that he and pathologist Abdul Rahman had not been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Suit against Anwar 

Mat Zain, said Shafee, had filed a civil suit against Anwar on Aug 11, 2008, when his name was implicated and Anwar filed a memorandum of appearance on Sept 18, 2008.

“Neither Mat Zain or Anwar made any progress in the matter. Surprisingly Mat Zain, as the plaintiff, did not make any attempt to obtain a judgment in default, in spite of Anwar having not entered his defence, till today."

This, Shafee said, was shocking because Mat Zain was bent on clearing his name, but he “slept” on this suit and a show cause letter was issued by the court.

“On three separate occasions the parties did not attend to the show cause and the case was finally struck out, with no further order as to costs. From the above development, it would seem obvious that Mat Zain had filed the suit not for the purpose of vindicating his reputation but for reasons he knows best,” Shafee says in his affidavit.

He further claimed that Anwar had used Mat Zain's pleadings in the suit to his advantage in the Sodomy II trial to invalidate the Section 418A certificate issued by the attorney-general and finally, to disqualify several individuals, including the AG, from prosecuting him.

“His dilatory pursuit of his suit itself corroborates my suspicion,” Shafee claims.

The lawyer in his affidavit also states that Mat Zain is a bankrupt, after failing to settle a loan of RM500,000 that he took after his retirement from service.

On this, Mat Zain had four years ago claimed that there were powerful hands behind having him declared a bankrupt in order to destroy his credibility and to prevent him in giving evidence in the black-eye case.