Lawyer Shafee fails in bid to sue Bar Council

KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer Shafee Abdullah failed on Thursday to sue the Bar Council and three lawyers for attempting to talk about his conduct after the Sodomy 2 case in the Federal Court.

High Court judge Justice Hanipah Farikullah dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that Shafee had failed to prove his allegations on the balance of probability, the test of the burden of proof.

“The court is of the view that the first and second defendants, Tommy Thomas and V. C. George, have legal and social duties to submit the motion to the Bar Council. The lawyers’ body has an interest to receive the motion as it concerns public issues,” she said.

She pointed out that the Bar Council has the duty, under the Legal Profession Act, to regulate the conduct of their lawyers. “Parliament in the plain meaning has given power to the Bar Council to regulate the conduct of its advocates and solicitors,” she said.

Justice Hanipah added that Shafee had failed to prove that there was a conspiracy to defame him. “He failed to put witnesses to prove the conspiracy.”

Justice Hanipah also ruled out former Bar president Christopher Leong’s role in the lawsuit. “He was an office bearer when the filing was done.”

“The court finds no merit in the case as he was just a representative party.”

No cost was ordered. Both Shafee and the lawyers, and Bar Council agreed not to seek costs.

Last year, Shafee sued the Bar Council, Leong, Thomas, and former judge George for attempting to discuss his conduct related to roadshows on the Sodomy 2 conviction. The discussion was to have taken place during the Bar’s annual general meeting on 14 March 2015.

Shafee was appointed by the government as the lead prosecutor in Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy 2 appeal.

Anwar, the de facto Opposition Leader, was found guilty of sodomizing his aide Saiful Bukhari and was sentenced to five years’ jail in 2014.

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