KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 22): Senior lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah's RM9.5 million money laundering and income tax trial has been postponed as his lead counsel is indisposed.

"Harvinderjit [Singh] is unwell, so the matter has been postponed," said Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, another lawyer in Shafee's team, when speaking to reporters on Tuesday (Feb 22).

Muhammad Farhan also confirmed that the lead counsel's illness was not related to Covid-19.

Justice Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin then set March 28 and 29 as well as April 27 for the trial's continuation.

Inland Revenue Board officer Syed Nasrul Fahmi Syed Mohamad was to be cross-examined by the defendants on Tuesday. He is the prosecution's seventh witness.

Last Tuesday, Justice Muhammad had dismissed Shafee's bid to expunge parts of Syed Nasrul's witness statement.

It was reported that according to Shafee's lawyers, Syed Nasrul had given "legal opinions" on some matters when he had the expertise to do so. They had also argued that the witness was said to have spoken about documents which were not produced as evidence in the court.

Justice Muhammad had ruled that Shafee's lawyers had the avenue of cross-examination to determine the accuracy of his statements.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz represented the prosecutors on Tuesday.

Shafee is on trial for two charges of receiving money derived from illegal activities amounting to RM9.5 million, through two cheques of RM4.3 million on Sept 5, 2013 and RM5.2 million on Feb 14, 2014 respectively, issued by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, which were allegedly deposited into the lawyer's CIMB Bank Bhd account.

The senior lawyer is also facing two charges of engaging in transactions resulting from illegal activities, namely submitting incorrect tax returns and in violation of paragraph 113(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act 1967 for the financial years ended Dec 31, 2013 and 2014.

The trial began on Sept 13, 2018.

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