Lawyer Shafee Abdullah said this was among the alternatives they were seeking in their latest application in Najib’s defence.

Najib plans to file an application to adduce evidence that trial judge Nazlan Mohd Ghazali had previously been involved in approving more than RM6 billion in loans from Maybank to 1MDB. Nazlan was a general counsel for Maybank at that time, before he became a judge.

The defence will file the fresh evidence bid in two days’ time.

“There is a possible blunder of prosecution, we will see if the court can acquit and quash all the charges,” he told reporters.

SRC International was a subsidiary of 1MDB until February 2012.

Shafee had said yesterday that Nazlan should have disqualified himself from hearing Najib’s case in the High Court as he would be a witness in the 1MDB trial.

As the then Maybank general counsel, he said, Nazlan “would form certain opinions against 1MDB”.

Nazlan, who has been elevated to the Court of Appeal, had in July 2020 convicted Najib on seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering in relation to RM42 million belonging to SRC International.

Najib was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RM210 million. Nazlan’s decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeal last December. Najib is appealing against the decision in the Federal Court.