Former Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on April 3 (Photo: Xinhua/VNA) Kula Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s Court of Appeal granted leave to former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to commence a judicial review to challenge the legality of the appointment for former Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram as a senior deputy public prosecutor in their trials.
A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, Datuk Lau Bee Lan and Datuk Has Zanah Mehat allowed the appeals brought by the duo to set aside the High Court dismissal of their applications to obtain leave to initiate the judicial review.
Hasnah fixed August 27 for case management of the judicial review cases before the deputy registrar of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
On February 20, the High Court of Malaysia dismissed Najib and Muhammad Shafee’s applications for leave to commence a judicial review, prompting them to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
With the new decision of the Court of Appeal, the trial of Najib involving in the 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) will begin on August 28.
Najib is facing a total of 42 criminal charges of corruption and money laundering at 1MDB and other state-owned entities where he has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The 1MDB was set up by Najib in 2009 for socio-economic development. However, US and Malaysian investigators found some 4.5 billion USD was stolen, and around 1 billion USD sent to Najib’s different accounts.-VNA
VNA
