The government must disclose if taxpayers' money is used to fund an Umno roadshow featuring Sodomy II prosecutor Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang said.

Shafee last week spoke at an Umno Youth forum on the issue and is scheduled to speak at another Umno organised event in Penang tonight.

Lim (below) said that this should be clarified given suspicions following the government's refusal to disclose how much the Attorney-General's Chambers had paid the lawyer to take up the case.

The fees have been classified under the Official Secrets Act.

“(What is) the exact full amounts or fees or whether he is rendering his services to Umno pro bono?” he asked.

Although Shafee's fee is an official secret, Lim said the government can still reveal if the fee is higher than Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail's annual salary.

“If so, the question arises as to why Abdul Gani (did not) conduct the prosecution himself instead of privatising it to Shafee,” he said.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was on Feb 10 sentenced to five years in jail after found guilty of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2008.

Can't have your cake and eat it

On a separate verdict, Lim urged murder convict Sirul Azhar Umar to own up to killing Mongolian national Altantuya Shariibuu.

Sirul cannot refuse to admit to killing Altantuya but at the same time say that he had acted under orders from someone powerful, he said.

“If Sirul claims that he is innocent of the murder of Altantunya, then he should not be claiming justice on the ground that he had murdered under “orders”, but that he had been wrongly convicted of Altantunya’s murder when he is totally innocent.

“Sirul should think through his statements and actions so as not to be caught in a web of his own making,” Lim said in a separate statement.

Sirul in an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini decried being sentenced to death over the murder for following a directive.

He, however, said that he never admitted to killing Altantuya and that he was convicted based on circumstantial evidence.

Sirul fled to Australia and is now in immigration detention in Sydney while fellow ex-commando Azilah Hadri who was convicted alongside him is on death row.

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