The Kuala Lumpur High Court has granted leave to Attorney-General Tommy Thomas to cite former premier Najib Abdul Razak's lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah for contempt of court.

This is over comments Shafee made in a KiniTV video entitled 'Shafee: This is completely bonkers'.

Judge Mohd Firuz Jaffril, who granted the leave this morning, fixed March 25 for case management.

Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan (photo), who is representing Thomas, said today's hearing was for the ex-parte application to cite Shafee for contempt.

“Apparently the court was satisfied and leave was granted,” he told the media, adding that the papers would be served to Shafie within 14 days.

In the video, Shafee said, among others, that he was confident regarding the case against Najib, provided that the judge is not influenced.

[...] But we think our case is very good. Ok? If you leave the judge alone, do not influence the judge, if the judge is straight, if witnesses are not coached and evidence not fabricated, we should win. Ok?

“Much to our surprise. My opinion is we should win. Ok? Alright,” he had said.

The lawyer made the comments after Najib was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) over three money-laundering charges on Feb 7.

However, the former premier was slapped with the same three charges again the following day.

Last September, Shafee himself claimed trial to two counts of money laundering.

The charges – relating to a RM9.5 million payment he received from Najib – were filed under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act (AMLA) 2001.

Shafee was also charged under the Income Tax Act with two counts of making false declarations to the Inland Revenue Board for not including the RM9.5 million in his tax filing for the year.

He pleaded not guilty to all four charges.

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