Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Mustaffa Kunyalam said the appeal hearing date was fixed today after case management before deputy registrar Nadia Kamal.

“The parties have also been instructed to file their written submissions on Aug 24,” Mustaffa told FMT.

Nur Syahirah Hanapiah represented Najib in the proceedings held online.

Last month, the former prime minister cited 25 reasons in his petition of appeal on why a High Court judge was wrong in dismissing his application to disqualify Sri Ram.

Najib said Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan only took into consideration the case laws provided by the prosecution to arrive at his verdict.

“The judge erred in law and fact when he ignored (the fact) that Sri Ram’s appointment (in August 2018) was a serious conflict under the Federal Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Code,” he said in the petition.

Further, Najib said, the judge had failed to notice that his application to recuse Sri Ram was novel although he (Najib) had filed a similar move in another case.

On Feb 15, Zaini dismissed Najib’s application, saying it was without basis and misplaced.

Najib, 67, and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy, 45, are on trial over 1MDB audit report tampering charges before Zaini.

Najib is charged with using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament to avoid any action taken against him.

Arul Kanda is charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report to protect him from being subjected to action.

This is not the first time that Najib has sought to remove Sri Ram as the lead prosecutor.

He first attempted to disqualify the former Federal Court judge in 2018 in another trial where he faced 25 charges of corruption and money laundering in the alleged transfer of 1MDB funds into his accounts.

In that case, the Federal Court ruled in 2019 that Sri Ram’s appointment was valid.