Prominent lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has said that the four charges against him are nonsensical and politically motivated.

Shafee was alleged to have engaged in two counts of money laundering activities by receiving proceeds from illegal activities amounting to RM9.5 million from former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Shafee also faced two counts of violating the Income Tax Act 1967 by omitting the income received from Najib in statements made to the Inland Revenue Board on two occasions in 2015.

"To me, these charges are nonsense. The gist of the charges is to establish whether I know that the RM4.3 million and RM5.2 million which I have received come from illegal sources.

"Not only must they prove that the monies come from illegal sources, but also that I was aware of the matter," he told media in a press conference at KL Sessions Court today.

Shafee said if the prosecutors cannot prove that he knew that the money received from Najib is illegal, then all the four charges will be dropped.

"If I asked anyone of you in 2013 or 2014, have you heard of 1MDB or SRC, all of you would say no. So (likewise) how would I know that there was a matter like 1MDB or SRC?" he said.

Shafee said he felt that the charges were purposely brought against him by certain parties, including PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim.

"One obviously at the agitation of Datuk Seri Anwar because he wanted to get away from the conviction at the Court of Appeal and Federal Court on Sodomy II. He's trying to run an argument that because I received RM9.5 million, purportedly as a reward for prosecuting him for Sodomy II, he did not receive a fair trial.

"I did not prosecute the case..I did not conduct the case, I only conducted the appeal. The record is there. I only took the record and argued. I cannot fix evidence, I cannot make the evidence better and so on. So, how could I improve the case?"

Shafee also claimed that there are those in the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) who want to keep him out of Najib's defence team.

"There are those at AGC, including those who are not permanent at AGC who want me out from the line-up of Najib's defence team for his case.

"Our defence team is quite good. So maybe, they are worried about it. It's political, there's no basis (for the charges against him)," he said.

Najib, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, has been hauled to court twice to face a total of seven charges.

These are four charges of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power under Section 409 of the Penal Code and Section 23 of the MACC Act 2008, and three charges of money laundering under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.