Najib's appeal to disqualify Gopal Sri Ram to be heard on April 10

PUTRAJAYA (March 22): The Court of Appeal will hear two appeals raised by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak regarding his 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) case on April 10.

Najib wants to disqualify former Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram from leading the prosecution team and also a stay to stop the trial pending the Court of Appeal's decision.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Mustaffa P Kunyalam told reporters that the Court of Appeal Senior Assistant Registrar Yasmin Abdul Razak fixed the hearing date after meeting both parties in the chambers today.

The High Court's grounds of judgment and records of appeal are ready, he said.

Mohamad Mustaffa added that Najib as the appellant in this matter has been directed to file his petition of appeal by March 28.

On Sept 20, 2018, Najib was charged with four counts under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act and 21 counts of money laundering involving 1MDB funds, amounting to RM2.28 billion.

He was charged with committing the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd, No. 55, Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Ceylon between 2011 and 2014.

On March 1, 2019, High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah dismissed the application by Najib to challenge the appointment of Sri Ram and concluded that there was no evidence to show that Sri Ram would be acting in a biased manner as senior deputy public prosecutor in handling the case.

The judge also refused to grant Najib's application for a stay of the trial, which was scheduled to commence on April 15 to May 3.

Najib then filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal and was hoping that the Court of Appeal will grant a stay to suspend the trial. — theedgemarkets.com

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