A show-cause letter has been issued to Umno-linked senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah by the Bar Council for alleged professional misconduct.

The show-cause order is believed to be related to the allegation of misconduct made against Shafee for holding roadshows after securing the conviction of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for Sodomy II last February.

The letter was sent to Shafee two weeks ago.

Bar Council chairperson Steven Thiru ( photo ) when contacted by Malaysiakini confirmed that the show-cause letter has been issued to Shafee, but he declined to divulge details.

The show cause may result in a disciplinary hearing before the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board (ASDB).

Shafee, who is presently the chairperson of the Asean Intergovernmental Commission of human rights, was appointed an ad-hoc prosecutor by Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail to handle the prosecution's appeal on Anwar at the Court of Appeal in 2013 and again in Federal Court in 2014 and 2015.

 

It is understood the new complaint is different from the on-going proceedings against Shafee after a complaint filed by Anwar himself.

 

Last month, it was reported that Shafee failed to recuse the disciplinary chair, Vijay Kumar Natarajan, a senior lawyer, from hearing Anwar's complaint on the 63-year-old Umno linked lawyer.

Unprofessional conduct

Senior lawyer Tommy Thomas and former Court of Appeal judge VC George had in March tabled a motion at the Malaysian Bar annual general meeting on his conduct in roadshows after the Sodomy II verdict at the Federal Court last February.

 

Shafee's actions, they claimed, are in violation of Rules 5(a), 31, 32, 33 and 49 of the Legal Profession (Practice and Etiquette) Rules 1978.

 

Rule 5(a) states that a lawyer should not accept a case if he or she cannot be a professional, while Rule 31 states lawyers should uphold the dignity of the profession.

 

Tommy ( photo ) and George also cited Rule 33 (feelings between clients should not influence the lawyer's conduct towards parties), and Rule 49, which states that lawyers should not ask for a matter or a case to be reported.

This motion was scheduled to be heard before the last annual general meeting of the Malaysian Bar, but Shafee filed a suit against Tommy, George and the Malaysian Bar and obtained an injunction one day before the AGM, preventing the motion from being tabled and discussed.

The case is still on-going as the High Court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed the Bar's application to strike out the suit.

The board has in the past fined Shafee RM5,000 after a complaint on self-promotion was made against Shafee by former council chairperson Ragunath Kesavan.

Ragunath’s complaint was based on two articles published in the Sunday Star i ssue of Sept 27, 2009, titled 'Counsel rests his case' and 'Keeping within the letter of the law' .