Lawyer fails to get Sri Ram’s appointment letter, recusal as lead prosecutor

KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah failed in his applications to obtain the appointment letter of Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram as senior deputy public prosecutor and also to recuse the former Federal Court judge from leading the prosecution team in his money laundering case.

High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah dismissed the applications after hearing the submissions by lawyer Harvinderjit Singh, representing Muhammad Shafee, and the prosecution, represented by deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar.

In the judgment, Sequerah said Muhammad Shafee’s application for Sri Ram’s appointment letter was dismissed because the court was bound by the Federal Court’s decision in allowing the prosecution’s application for Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah’s appointment letter to lead the prosecution team in former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s case involving SRC International Sdn Bhd funds to not be produced to the defence.

Najib had applied for the prosecution to produce Sulaiman’s appointment letter, but it was dismissed by the High Court, and he appealed to the Court of Appeal, which ruled in his favour.

However, the prosecution appealed to the Federal Court against the decision, and it won.

On Muhammad Shafee’s application to recuse Sri Ram from leading the prosecution team in his case, Sequerah said he based it on his own decision in dismissing Najib’s application to also recuse Sri Ram from leading the prosecution team in his case involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund.

On Sept 13 last year, Muhammad Shafee, 66, pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court to receiving proceeds from unlawful activity via cheques issued by Najib which were remitted into Shafee’s CIMB Bank Berhad account. He allegedly received a cheque for RM4.3 million on Sept 13, 2013 and another for RM5.2 million on Feb 17, 2014.

He allegedly committed the two offences at CIMB Bank Bhd, J2 & K1, Taman Tunku, Bukit Tunku.

The charges under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 carry a fine not exceeding RM5 million or up to five years’ jail or both upon conviction.