A notice of appeal was filed last Friday, two days after the appellate court held that a High Court was right in finding that Sri Ram’s appointment was in order.

Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Ahmad Akram Gharib told FMT that the prosecution had been served with a copy of the notice of appeal.

A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Yaacob Md Sam said there was no merit in the appeal that Sri Ram’s appointment was tainted with an element of interference in 1MDB investigations.

He said Sri Ram was not biased and in conflict of interest over his alleged conversation and exchange of text messages with former attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali.

The former prime minister claims Sri Ram’s conversation with Apandi in early January 2018 revealed that he (Sri Ram) was prejudiced to believe that there was a strong case against him (Najib) in the 1MDB cases.

Sri Ram, now a practising lawyer, was appointed as senior DPP in August 2018 to prosecute Najib after Pakatan Harapan won power three months earlier.

Sri Ram is currently prosecuting Najib in the RM2.2 billion corruption and money laundering, and 1MDB audit report tampering trials.

The other two cases are his and former treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah’s case involving criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges amounting to RM6.6 billion, and another three charges of money laundering amounting to RM27 million in SRC International Sdn Bhd.