Senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today said that RM9.5 million given to him by former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was payment for legal work done by him for cases involving BN and Umno.

Shafee said the amount owed to him could actually be higher as the payment to him had been pending since the time Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the country's fourth prime minister.

"I received the RM9.5 million in two portions because I have been doing work for BN and Umno since Dr Mahathir's time and I have never been paid.

"This is because both sides were not reminding each other. They paid some disbursement but it was not fees. Dr Mahathir was aware of this," Shafee told reporters outside the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.

He had earlier claimed trial to four charges under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 for allegedly receiving two separate payments totalling RM9.5 million from Najib between 2013 and 2014.

The prosecution claims the source of Najib's funds allegedly came from "proceeds of unlawful activity".

Shafee said the RM9.5 million payment was in relation to 46 election petitions in which he had represented the ruling party and coalition in the past.

"More or less, the total fees came to RM11.5 million but it was discounted between me and Najib.

"In fact, if I want to charge all the work that I did for BN alone, forgetting my advice to all the PMs, just pure for BN and Umno, the bill is about RM20 million."

He added he asked for the payment from Najib as he needed money to purchase a property to help a friend.

Not for Anwar's case

Shafee also said he had never claimed that he did not receive the RM9.5 million as claimed by certain quarters.

"A lady who is a special officer at Attorney-General's Chambers said I did not tell the truth about my claims on the RM9.5 million.

"I did not say that I did not receive the RM9.5 million. I said I did not receive the RM9.5 million to do the Anwar's case. That was as clear as a daylight," he said.

Shafee was referring to 2013 when he was appointed a special prosecutor in PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's second sodomy trial which eventually saw him being jailed for five years.