Federal Court reserves verdict in Shafee's defamation appeal against Malaysian bar, two others

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has reserved its verdict on senior lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah's appeal over his defamation suit against the Malaysian Bar and two others relating to his conduct as the deputy public prosecutor (DPP) in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II case.

The two other respondents were former Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas and former Court of Appeal judge Tan Sri V.C. George.

Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf, who led a panel of three judges reserved its ruling after hearing submissions from both the appellant (Muhammad Shafee) and respondents in a proceeding conducted virtually through the Zoom application.

Also presiding on the bench were Federal Court judges Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli.

On May 26, 2016, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed a defamation suit filed by Muhammad Shafee against the respondents. The Court of Appeal on Oct 11, 2018, rejected Muhammad Shafee's appeal and upheld the High Court's decision.

On Aug 19, 2020, the Federal Court granted leave to Muhammad Shafee to appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision.

During today's proceeding, the court heard submissions by lawyers Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, who acted for Thomas; Porres Royan for George, Lambert Rasa-Ratnam for the Bar while Muhammad Shafee represented himself.

Muhammad Shafee filed the suit in March 2015, claiming that on Feb 28, 2015, Thomas had published and submitted a motion for discussion by the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Malaysian Bar on March 14, 2015. The motion was seconded by George.

The motion pertains to Muhammad Shafee's conduct as the DPP in Anwar's sodomy appeal in the Federal Court, claiming that he (Muhammad Shafee) had violated the legal profession's rules which prohibited lawyers from publicising themselves.

The motion also alleged Muhammad Shafee of participating in nationwide roadshows with the purpose of insulting a convicted prisoner and for bringing attention to his role in Anwar's conviction.

On Feb 10, 2015, the Federal Court affirmed Anwar's conviction of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan and sentenced him to five years in jail. Anwar, however, was given full pardon by the King on May 16, 2018.

In his statement of claim, Muhammad Shafee sought, among other things, a declaration that the motion was mala fide because the purpose of the proposal was simply to embarrass him and that the AGM was not a proper forum to hear the motion.

-- BERNAMA