KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 7): Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah wants the Malaysian Bar to pay him at least RM2 million in damages for breaching its statutory duty over a motion it planned to include in its annual general meeting to condemn his conduct in relation to the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim Sodomy II case about a decade ago.
In his witness statement filed for the High Court's proceedings on Monday (Aug 7) to assess damages to be paid by the legal statutory body, the senior lawyer said the sum was appropriate, given that a "grave wrongdoing was inflicted on him", resulting in "great mental, physical and financial distress".
The protracted legal battle stemmed from the Bar's plan to table a motion of condemnation against Shafee to be discussed in its 2015 AGM about the lawyer's involvement in a roadshow to explain the conviction of Anwar — who is now the prime minister — in the Sodomy II case, in which Shafee was the ad hoc prosecutor. The Bar had done this without first lodging a complaint about his conduct with the disciplinary board.
The motion, however, was not tabled at the end as Shafee had managed to obtain a court order to stop it.
The 71-year-old then hauled the Bar to the court in March 2015. While the High Court and the appellant court dismissed his case, the apex court in October 2021 ruled in his favour, saying the veteran lawyer was entitled to damages.
The Federal Court held the view that the Bar should have — before tabling and publishing the motion against Shafee for all 15,000 members to view and discuss — first made a complaint against the senior lawyer for misconduct, as stipulated under Section 99 (1) of the Legal Profession Act 1976, to the disciplinary board.
The apex court also directed that assessment of damages be decided by the High Court.
The Bar subsequently filed an application to review the Federal Court's decision, but this was dismissed in September 2022.
Shafee claims loss of opportunities
During the hearing in the High Court on Monday, the senior lawyer also told the court that he was also seeking damages for loss of opportunities, as he was occupied with this litigation.
"There has been loss of earnings, and inevitably profits with respect to other potential cases, which I could have done after this case was initiated," he said in his witness statement.
But during cross-examination, Andrew Chiew Ean Vooi, appearing for the Bar, listed down a number of cases where Shafee had appeared in since 2015.
This included the cases of former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo, Repco Holdings Bhd's former executive chairman Low Thiam Hock (Repco Low), and former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's SRC International Sdn Bhd, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and related cases.
Chiew: You would concur with me that these are prominent individuals?
Shafee: Yes, some of them.
Chiew: The civil cases — they involve a substantial quantum?
Shafee: The claims? Oh yes.
The veteran lawyer also agreed with Chiew that he had not produced his income tax fillings in the court to show if he indeed suffered a loss of income.
Shafee said there was a good reason for that, but did not elaborate.
He also confirmed that a separate disciplinary board hearing over his conduct in the Anwar case is still ongoing, although it is proceeding at "a crawling pace".
Meanwhile, it has to be noted that Anwar has always maintained that the charge he faced was politically motivated. In 2018, he was granted a pardon by then Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V, shortly after the Pakatan Harapan coalition came to power after the 14th general election.
The veteran lawyer was representing himself in the matter, while senior lawyer Lambert Rasa-Ratnam also appeared for the Bar on Monday.
The hearing to assess damages will continue before High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh on Tuesday.