This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 15, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah yesterday failed to get his passport temporarily released to attend legal proceedings in Australia next month.

He handed over his passport to the High Court in September last year after he claimed trial to four counts of money laundering in connection with a RM9.5 million payment from former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah agreed with the prosecution yesterday that there is no compelling reason for Muhammad Shafee to attend the proceedings at an Australian detention facility as his presence there would only be for the purpose of assisting in translation from Malay.

“To that extent, the applicant (Muhammad Shafee) could send a member of his firm to assist [in the task].

“It’s evident therefore that the applicant’s presence there is merely to assist as there are Australian solicitors on record. Therefore, [there is] no compelling reason for the applicant’s presence there,” he added.

The judge stressed that the whole rationale for requiring Muhammad Shafee to surrender his passport in the first place is because of the serious nature of the charges faced.

“The possibility of a risk of flight could not be discounted. There is, therefore, an inherent flight risk because of the nature and seriousness of the charges faced,” he said this when dismissing Muhammad Shafee’s application for the temporary release of his passport.

Earlier, the High Court fixed July 8-11 and 15-18, as well as March 16-19 and 30-31 and April 1-2 next year as new hearing dates for the case.

Prior to the hearing, the case will be called for case management again on June 13.

On Sept 13 last year, Muhammad Shafee pleaded not guilty to receiving RM9.5 million from Najib which came from illegal proceeds.

This is Muhammad Shafee’s third application to have his passport back temporarily for him to go abroad. However, the prosecution did not object to the previous two applications.

Deputy public prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz told the court that the prosecution had been instructed to oppose yesterday’s application.

He stressed that the drug case in Australia was only fixed for mention and there is no cogent reason for Muhammad Shafee to be present there.

He added that Muhammad Shafee should be treated as a normal accused person and should not be given special treatment just because he is a lawyer.

Muhammad Shafee was represented by lawyer Havinderjit Singh yesterday.