Senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has said that he would issue a statement on the allegation Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak paid him RM9.5 million.

This is after reporters quizzed him on the matter at the Jalan Duta Court Complex in Kuala Lumpur today.

“I will issue a statement, but not today,” he was quoted as saying by FMT. Following this, the lawyer got into his car and left the court complex.

Last week, Sarawak Report claimed that Shafee had received the payment in two tranches - Sept 11, 2013 and Feb 17, 2014.

The lawyer had acted as chief prosecutor in jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II case when the matter was heard in the higher courts.

Anwar is currently serving a five-year prison sentence after the Federal Court upheld his conviction on Feb 10, 2015.

The opposition claimed that Sarawak Report's allegation pointed at a political conspiracy against Anwar, who has maintained that the charge against him was fabricated.

Earlier today, Anwar, through his lawyers, filed an originating summons to set aside his conviction based on the allegation that Shafee was paid RM9.5 million.

Anwar named the government as the sole respondent in the application.

On March 26, 2015, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nancy Shukri was quoted as saying that Shafee was to be paid RM1,000 as fee with regard to the Sodomy II case.

She said the payment was yet to be made because the lawyer did not send the government an invoice, despite agreeing to the sum.

Malaysiakini is unable to independently verify the Sarawak Report allegation or confirm if the purported RM9.5 million payment was related to Shafee's role in Anwar's case.

Najib's office and his aides have also not responded to the allegation.

Yesterday, inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar revealed that some 40 reports have been filed over this allegation.

He also drew flak when he suggested that Sarawak Report's London-based editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown come to Malaysia to assist investigations by providing supporting evidence and documents.

However, Rewcastle-Brown claimed that Khalid, as a member of the high-level special task force, must have been privy to the same documents.