Federal Court to hear Najib's appeal to disqualify Sri Ram on Aug 7

The Federal Court has fixed Aug 7 to hear Najib Abdul Razak's appeal to disqualify former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram as lead prosecutor in his 1MDB cases.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said the prosecution and defence in the case were instructed to file their respective submissions before July 24.

The matter came up for case management before Federal Court deputy registrar Azniza Mohd Ali in chambers in Putrajaya today. Lawyer Sarah Abishegam appeared for Najib.

On March 1, the High Court dismissed Najib's application to disqualify Sri Ram from leading the prosecution in his 1MDB cases. He also lost his appeal in the Court of Appeal on May 7.

A three-member Court of Appeal bench ruled that the matter cannot be appealed as stated in Section 50(1) read with Section 3 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

The former prime minister is facing four counts under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act and 21 counts of money laundering involving 1MDB funds, amounting to RM2.28b.

He is accused of committing the offences at the AmIslamic Bank pn Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur, between 2011 and 2014. The High Court has set Aug 19 for the trial of Najib’s 1MDB cases.

Two matters brought up by Najib relating to his SRC International Sdn Bhd cases also came up for case management today before Azniza.

Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Izzat Fauzan said the Federal Court set Sept 4 to hear Najib's review application against the lifting of the order to temporarily stay his SRC International trial and on Najib's bid for a stay of the High Court proceedings. The court has set July 12 for case management for the matters.

On March 27, a seven-member bench of the Federal Court, led by former Chief Justice Richard Malanjum, lifted the stay of proceedings order granted by the appellate court to Najib to temporarily stall the trial pending his appeals over his interlocutory matters.

Najib is facing seven charges of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money-laundering involving RM42 million of SRC International funds. His trial is ongoing before High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Ghazali.

Najib's appeal against the High Court's dismissal of his bid to strike out his seven SRC International charges, set for case management today before Court of Appeal registrar Norsharidah Awang, has been set for further case management on July 12 to include records of appeal.

- Bernama