KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer today revealed that it was he who lodged a report against Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah over the RM9.5 million which had been given to the senior lawyer by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Mohamad Farid Jabar said he lodged the report on Sept 4, 2018, over the money which was given to Shafee in 2013 and 2014.
The 37-year-old said the first payment of RM4.3 million was issued by Najib via an AmIslamic Bank cheque dated Sept 13, 2013, while the second payment of RM5.2 million was issued via a cheque dated Feb 17, 2014.
He said Shafee had acknowledged to the MACC in the course of investigations that he had collected the cheques from Najib's office in Putrajaya on Sept 5, 2013, and Feb 14, 2014, respectively.
Both cheques, Farid said, were made out in Shafee's name and not that of his law firm, Shafee & Co and were later remitted into the lawyer's CIMB bank account.
Farid, who is the eighth and final prosecution witness, said the RM9.5 million was payment for Shafee's legal and professional services over 46 election petitions which had been filed by Umno and Barisan Nasional from 2004 to 2006.
However, he said Shafee had failed to declare the income in his tax returns for 2013 and 2014 where the lawyer only declared an income of RM3.17 million and RM3.39 million respectively.
Farid was taking the stand against Shafee, who is facing two money laundering charges involving RM9.5 million and two charges of making false statements to the Inland Revenue Board Of Malaysia (IRB).
Previously, the first prosecution witness, AmBank (M) Bhd branch manager Uma Devi Raghavan had confirmed that both cheques issued to Shafee were from Najib's AmBank account.
In her testimony, Uma Devi said that after the RM4.3 million payment was made to Shafee in September 2013, Najib was left with RM69.1 million in his bank account.
According to her, Najib subsequently transferred another RM5.2 million to Shafee in February 2014, and after the transfer, the then Prime Minister was left with RM23.2 million in his bank account.
The prosecution in the case is being conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz while Shafee is represented by Harvinderjit Singh.
The trial before High Court Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin continues on April 27 where Farid will be cross-examined by Harvinderjit.