Senior Journo Wrote 4 Articles On Shafee S Rm9 5m Issue Court Hears

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A Malay Mail senior correspondent today testified that she wrote four online articles in relation to the RM9.5 million that lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah allegedly received from former premier Najib Abdul Razak.
Ida Lim Lee Ting confirmed this during the trial of Shafee’s RM9.5 million money laundering and false statement case before the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning.
Shafee (above) is on trial on two counts of money laundering and two counts of giving false statements to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) in relation to the RM9.5 million he received from Najib.
Testifying during today’s examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Natasha Chin Le Jy, Lim confirmed she wrote the four articles for online news portal Malay Mail on Sept 8, 2018.
The four articles were ‘Shafee breaks silence, claims Dr M wanted him to prosecute Anwar’s Sodomy II appeals’, ‘Shafee: RM9.5m payment was for BN’s election petitions, not Anwar prosecution’, ‘After account frozen, Shafee says explained RM9.5m issue to MACC again’ and ‘Shafee claims harassment, fears victimisation to discourage his defence of Najib’.
The journalist confirmed the articles were written based on a press statement issued by Shafee entitled ‘Press Statement of Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah Pertaining to the RM9.5 million’.
She attested that she received the press statement in PDF format from lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee via a WhatsApp message at 4.20pm on Sept 8, 2018.
"Furthermore, the contents of the media statement were in relation to current news. Two days before that, Malay Mail had published a news report in relation to the same issue mentioned in the press statement sent out by Muhammad Farhan. The report was published on Sept 6, 2018," Lim said.
Shafee’s press statement was in relation to an earlier news article carried by Malay Mail on Sept 6, 2018, which was titled ‘Najib paid Shafee RM9.5m as Sodomy II prosecutor, says AGC office’.
During cross-examination by defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh, the witness agreed that the four articles made no reference to any tax issues.
Harvinderjit: Your articles have nothing to do with tax?
Lim: No.

Defence counsel Harvinderjit Singh
Trial before judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin will resume next Friday.
On Sept 13, 2018, at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, Shafee claimed trial to four charges linked to the RM9.5 million allegedly received from Najib via two cheques.
The lawyer was charged with two counts of money laundering over the RM9.5 million which he was accused of receiving in two tranches, the first RM4.3 million on Sept 13, 2013, and the second payment of RM5.2 million on Feb 17, 2014.
Shafee was also charged with two counts of giving false statements to the IRB in relation to the payments on March 3 and June 29, 2015.
The 69-year-old lawyer was alleged to have deposited the two cheques into his personal account at a CIMB Bank branch in Bukit Tunku, Kuala Lumpur.
For the two money-laundering charges, Shafee was charged under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act (AMLA) 2001.
He was also charged under Section 113(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act 1967 for the two false statement charges involving the IRB.
The case was later transferred to the High Court in Kuala Lumpur with today being the second day of the trial before Jamil. The trial began on May 21 this year.
Najib, meanwhile, is currently facing numerous separate criminal trials among them the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption case. His counsel is Shafee. - Mkini

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