Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Mustafa P Kunyalam, who confirmed the matter, said Shafee Abdullah will only be back from London tomorrow and has to be under self-quarantine for five days.

The prosecutor said that the trial dates were also vacated this week as Arul’s counsel N Sivananthan has other court matters to attend to.

“The trial will resume on March 28,” he said after today’s proceedings were conducted before High Court deputy registrar Catherine Nicholas.

It was reported that Shafee went to London to meet a prospective Queen’s Counsel to represent Najib in his appeal to quash his conviction and sentence in the RM42 million SRC International case.

When the hearing resumes, former 1MDB chairman Bakke Salleh, 67, is expected to continue with his testimony.

Najib, 68, is charged with using his position to order amendments to the 1MDB final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee to avoid any action being taken against him, while Arul, 45, is charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments to the report, to protect Najib from being subjected to action.

The offence was allegedly committed at the Prime Minister’s Department Complex, Federal Government Administrative Centre, Federal Territory of Putrajaya between Feb 22 and 26, 2016.

Both of them were charged under Section 23 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.