His lawyer, Haijan Omar, said a notice of appeal was filed last week to reverse the findings of the Court of Appeal that the sessions court judge is competent to preside over the trial.

“We will proceed to file the petition of appeal once the Court of Appeal’ s written grounds are made available together with other appeal records,” Haijan told FMT.

In the meantime, he said, Lim’s trial will resume next week.

On Nov 16 , a three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by judge Nor Bee Ariffin dismissed Lim’s two questions of law posed as it said they had already been decided by the Federal Court.

The other judges who sat with Nor Bee were Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and Hashim Hamzah.

Ruzima, who delivered the court’s broad grounds, said Lim had failed to fulfil the conditions for the transfer of the case from the sessions court to the High Court.

Lim’s lawyers want to raise constitutional issues in the Federal Court – the highest court in the land – but for that to happen, the trial must start in the High Court.

Proceedings in the sessions court only end in the Court of Appeal.

Lim’s lawyers in the bungalow purchase case had lost their appeal in the Federal Court to strike down Section 62 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act, which required an accused person to provide his defence statement to the prosecution before the trial started.

However, the apex court did not provide its judgment.

In that case, Lim was accused of using his position to obtain gratification by purchasing a bungalow from businesswoman Phang Li Koon for RM2.8 million, said to be below market price. Lim and Phang were acquitted in 2018.

The second legal question is whether the defence is entitled to statements recorded by law enforcement authorities during their investigation.

In this case, Lim wants a copy of the statement of Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd’s (Zenith) senior director Zarul Ahmad Mohd Zulkifli to enable the defence to cross-examine the witness and prepare his defence.

However, Ruzima said there were also sufficient case laws from the Federal Court that the defence is not entitled to witness statements.

Twelve prosecution witnesses have already testified since the trial started on July 13.

Lim is accused of using his position as chief minister to ask Zarul for a 10% cut of the profits which would be made from the roads and tunnel project.

The former finance minister is also accused of seeking RM3.3 million in kickbacks to appoint Zarul’s company to undertake the project.