Justice Vernon Ong, who led a three-man panel, said Shafee’s legal interest would be affected as the gist of the claim in Anwar’s originating summons concerned allegations of a RM9.5 million payment to him.
“It is quite clear that not only was Shafee made a party in a discovery (of documents) application at the High Court, he had also filed a striking-out application and attended court proceedings twice in the High Court. Shafee should be granted leave to intervene in this appeal,” he said.
However, Ong dismissed Shafee’s application to expunge an affidavit made by the attorney-general’s special task officer, Siti Rahayu Mohd Mumazaini, and to cross-examine her.
The other judges on the panel were justices Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Hasnah Mohammed Hashim.
Shafee sought to intervene in the appeal following the affidavit affirmed by Siti Rahayu, stating that new information had been discovered that RM9.5 million was paid to Shafee from former prime minister Najib Razak’s bank accounts between 2013 and 2014.
Anwar, who is PKR president, filed the originating summons on June 9 last year against the government, claiming he had not received a fair trial in the appeal against his Sodomy II conviction.
He sought a declaration that his conviction by the Court of Appeal on March 7, 2014 was ultra vires the Federal Constitution and thus null and void. He also wanted to nullify the Federal Court’s decision upholding his conviction.
In his affidavit, Anwar claimed Shafee had received RM9.5 million from Najib to lead the prosecution team in the appeal over his sodomy conviction.
Anwar’s conviction and five-year jail term for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan was upheld by the Federal Court. Anwar, however, was given full pardon by the king on May 16.
His originating summons was struck out by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Nov 8 last year. The court allowed the government’s application on grounds that the case did not have any cause of action and was an abuse of the court process.
Lawyer Harvinderjit Singh represented Shafee while lawyer Gopal Sri Ram appeared for Anwar. Senior federal counsel Amarjeet Singh appeared for the government.