After Najib and Rosmah, Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is the next accused public figure who has been permitted by the courts to temporarily obtain his passport back so he can travel overseas.
According to Berita Harian, High Court judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin has approved Muhammad Shafee’s application for his passport to be released from today (25 October) until 3 December to enable him to fly to the United States to manage his son’s educational affairs at the New School Parson in New York, USA.
It was reported that there had been no objections from the deputy public prosecutor S. Nithia regarding this matter.
At the proceedings, he was represented by lawyer, Wee Yeong Kang.
His case trial was supposed to proceed on 14 October but has been postponed to tomorrow (26 October), where the remaining three prosecution witnesses will be called to testify.
Previously, Shafee had surrendered his passport to the court as part of bail conditions in his ongoing trial for alleged money laundering involving RM9.5 million received from former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Shafee is facing 2 counts of involvement in money laundering, namely receiving proceeds from illegal activities through checks belonging to Datuk Seri Najib Razak, which was deposited into his CIMB Bank Berhad account.
He allegedly received a check for RM4.3 million on 13 September 2013, and another for RM5.2 million on 17 February 2014.
For that, he was being charged under Section 4 (1) (a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Financing of Terrorism and Proceeds from the Illegal Activities Act 2001 (AMLATFPUAA), which carries a fine of RM5 million or five years imprisonment, or both if convicted.
In addition, he is facing 2 counts of being directly involved in transactions resulting from illegal activities, namely by making an incorrect statement and in contrary with paragraph 113 (1) (a) of the Income Tax Act 1967.
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