Prominent lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has finally broken his silence on Sarawak Report's allegation that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak paid him RM9.5 million.

Shafee, who acted as chief prosecutor in Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II trial when the matter was heard in the higher courts, described the allegation as “nonsense”.

"I wanted to make a comment, but the suit was filed and hence I could not comment.

“I filed an application to strike out and also the affidavit in support and I can say now it is total nonsense. It is also there in the affidavit which I filed," he told Malaysiakini when met at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.

Earlier, the High Court struck out Anwar's originating summons to set aside his Sodomy II conviction based on the Sarawak Report allegation.

Expressing disappointment with the decision, Anwar's lawyers N Surendran and Latheefa Koya said their client has instructed them to file an appeal.

Surendran also called on Najib to either admit or deny Sarawak Report's allegation.

"To date, he has not made any comment on the matter," he added.

Sarawak Report's allegation had fuelled speculations of a conspiracy against Anwar due to Putrajaya's surprise move on July 22, 2013 to recruit Shafee to lead the prosecution team at the Court of Appeal instead of the conventional practice of relying on public prosecutors.

The Court of Appeal on March 7, 2014, overturned the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision which acquitted Anwar, sentencing him to five years in prison.

The Federal Court on Feb 10, 2015 upheld the conviction of sodomising his former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Anwar, who is slated to be released next year, has always maintained that the charge against him was fabricated by his political rivals, which the authorities have denied.

Sarawak Report, whose editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown has been accused of conspiring to topple Najib, claimed that the RM9.5 million payment was made in two tranches from Najib's accounts.

The first payment was purportedly made on Sept 11, 2013 and the second on Feb 17, 2014.

In 2015, the government had told Parliament that Shafee was paid a fee of RM1,000 to act as the lead prosecutor in the case.

Since the Sarawak Report allegation came to light, Shafee has remained tight-lipped on the matter.