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Umno lawyer calls Karpal ‘one of the most ethical criminal lawyers’

Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah had plenty of encounters in the courts with the late Karpal Singh but today, he paid tribute to the veteran lawyer who died in an accident yesterday.

Shafee said Karpal was “one of the most ethical criminal lawyers” he used to appear with while acting as deputy public prosecutor or counsel for the opposing clients, Bernama reported him as saying.

"As a pure criminal lawyer, he was most ethical and I had always enjoyed giving each other a 'good fight' in our respective roles in litigation," said Shafee.

Shafee was appointed by Putrajaya as ad hoc deputy public prosecutor in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial. The Court of Appeal overturned Anwar’s acquittal and sentenced him to five years’ jail.

Anwar's legal team led by the late Karpal.

Shafee was also in the Court of Appeal on a contempt proceeding involving Penang Adventist Hospital on Wednesday, the last day that Karpal was in court, said Bernama.

"Karpal was a quiet person. As such, many interesting stories that he kept to himself may not be known by many. I hope that someone can chronicle them some day," said Shafee.

The two have known each other for more than four decades.

On Karpal's last day in court, he noticed that Karpal was deep in thought, almost disturbed, Bernama quoted Shafee as saying.

"I approached him, asking if he was all right and if he was not well, we could ask for a deferment of the case.

"He said he was all right and could go on. He wanted to get on with the case as soon as possible, as though he needed to be at home," said Shafee. – April 18, 2014.