{"id":11618,"date":"2021-09-20T19:43:56","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T11:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=11618"},"modified":"2021-09-20T19:43:57","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T11:43:57","slug":"shafee-purchased-bukit-tunku-bungalow-with-rm9-5-mln-from-najib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=11618","title":{"rendered":"Shafee purchased Bukit Tunku bungalow with RM9.5 mln from Najib"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 &#8212; The RM 9.5 million received by&nbsp;Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah from&nbsp;Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in 2013 and 2014 was used to purchase a bungalow in Bukit Tunku&nbsp;here,&nbsp;a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officer told the High Court today.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MACC Assistant Commissioner,&nbsp;Mohd Nasharudin Amir, said&nbsp;Muhammad Shafee admitted this when&nbsp;giving his statement to the MACC on July 28, 2017.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBased on his (Muhammad Shafee) answers when recording the statement, two cheques valued&nbsp;at RM4.3 million and&nbsp;RM5.2 million received from Najib as fees for legal counsel provided to the former prime minister and party, was used to purchase a house valued at RM9.5 million,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mohd Nasharudin,&nbsp;who was then MACC Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds from Illicit Activities Investigations Unit head, said&nbsp;Muhammad Shafee also told him that the&nbsp;RM9.5 million had no links with his appointment as deputy public prosecutor in&nbsp;Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim sodomy II appeal case.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mohd Nasharudin said this when reading his witness statement on the third day of Muhammad Shafee\u2019s trial, in which the senior lawyer is facing\u00a0money laundering charges involving RM9.5 million allegedly received from Najib and two charges of making false statements to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Shafee-abdullah-1-e1536800309888.jpg\" alt=\"bungalow\" class=\"wp-image-555\" width=\"547\" height=\"410\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Shafee-abdullah-1-e1536800309888.jpg 650w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Shafee-abdullah-1-e1536800309888-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Shafee-abdullah-1-e1536800309888-133x100.jpg 133w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Shafee-abdullah-1-e1536800309888-350x263.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 547px) 100vw, 547px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Mohd Nasharudin said&nbsp;Muhammad Shafee also told him that he had no knowledge of the source of the money he received and that he never asked Najib as to where it came from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for&nbsp;Muhammad Shafee\u2019s statement to the MACC,&nbsp;Mohd Nasharudin said it was recorded at his office, Messrs&nbsp;Shafee &amp; Co, adding that the lawyer was not handcuffed at the time as he was involved in&nbsp;the investigations in which Najib was accused of diverting RM2.6 billion to private accounts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cross-examined by lawyer&nbsp;Harvinderjit Singh,&nbsp;Mohd Nasharudin said he could not recall if he had requested from Muhammad Shafee documents pertaining to the purchase of the bungalow when the statement was recorded.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, MACC Headquarters Investigations Unit officer,\u00a0Zulfaqar Mohd Khalil, 29, told the Court that when recording his statement at the MACC headquarters on Sept 11, 2018,\u00a0Muhammad Shafee, when referred to a sales and\u00a0purchase agreement\u00a0dated Feb 21, 2014, said the money had been used to purchase land and a three-story bungalow.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zulfaqar said Muhammad Shafee also informed he provided legal services to clients from Barisan Nasional over election petitions from 2004 to 2006, in which 46 files were opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMuhammad Shafee also explained that he had met Najib on Sept 5, 2013, and stated that the total cost of legal services provided was about RM12 million. He suggested to Najib that if payment was to be made, the actual amount would be RM11.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDuring the meeting, Muhammad Shafee confirmed that he had informed Najib that he needed money to buy a bungalow house worth RM9.5 million and Najib told him to take RM9.5 million first before issuing two checks worth RM4.3 million and RM5.2 million respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAccording to\u00a0Muhammad Shafee, Najib agreed that the RM9.5 million would be a loan until Najib comes up with a\u00a0rationalization (for the payment),\u201d the witness said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Sept 13, 2018, Muhammad Shafee pleaded not guilty to two charges of receiving RM9.5 million which were proceeds from unlawful activities through two cheques&nbsp;issued by Najib which were deposited into his CIMB Bank Berhad account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was&nbsp;also charged with two counts of engaging in transactions resulting from illegal activities, namely submitting incorrect tax returns, which is in violation of paragraph 113 (1) (a) of the Income Tax Act 1967 for the financial years ending Dec 31, 2013, and Dec 31, 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Muhammad Shafee also faced\u00a0two charges of being involved in transactions involving proceeds from unlawful activities, namely submitting incorrect returns, which contravened paragraph 113 (1) (a) of the Income Tax Act 1967, for the financial years ending Dec 31, 2013, and Dec 31, 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The trial before Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin continues tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bernama.com\/en\/crime_courts\/news.php?id=2005102\">BERNAMA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 &#8212; The RM 9.5 million received by&nbsp;Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[524],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-21-at-19.55.05.png",581,315,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-21-at-19.55.05-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-21-at-19.55.05-300x163.png",300,163,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-21-at-19.55.05.png",581,315,false],"large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-21-at-19.55.05.png",581,315,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-21-at-19.55.05.png",581,315,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-21-at-19.55.05.png",581,315,false],"newsium-slider-full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-21-at-19.55.05.png",581,315,false],"newsium-featured":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-21-at-19.55.05.png",581,315,false],"newsium-medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-21-at-19.55.05.png",581,315,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?cat=524\" rel=\"category\">Nation<\/a>","tag_info":"Nation","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11618"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11619,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11618\/revisions\/11619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}