Deputy public prosecutor Ashrof Adrin Kamarul said the former prime minister’s lawyers had written to the court recently to vacate the hearing on March 15 and 16.

“There’s no confirmation yet. The court will officially inform the parties of the result in the next few days,” he told the media when asked for an update on today’s case management before deputy registrar Siti Hajar Mustaffa.

Ashrof said a case management would be held on April 8 for Najib’s legal team to confirm the date that the application for the ad hoc admission of a Queen’s Counsel (QC) would be made.

On Jan 28, Siti Hajar had instructed Najib’s lawyers that the application to engage the QC be filed by May 20 and the admission hearing was tentatively fixed between June 20 and 24.

The hearing date to admit the QC was to be finalised today.

Najib’s lawyer Shafee Abdullah had said that the service of a QC was vital as the appeal involved complex issues of law.

On Dec 8, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and 12-year jail term and RM210 million fine on Najib for abuse of power, money laundering and misappropriating RM42 million in SRC funds.

Judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, who led a three-member bench, said trial judge Nazlan Mohd Ghazali did not misdirect himself for an appellate intervention.

A day earlier, the same bench dismissed Najib’s application to adduce fresh evidence in his appeal, saying he did not meet the strict elements required under the law.