Laidlaw, a Queen’s Counsel (QC) specialising in business and financial crime laws, is seeking the High Court’s permission to argue the SRC International case on an ad hoc basis.

In his petition, Laidlaw said SRC International involved “serious, complex, and novel issues related to several branches of criminal and civil laws. For the purpose of the appeal, the applicant (Laidlaw) possesses special qualifications, experience and expertise which is not available among the lawyers here.”

The Federal Court is scheduled to hear Najib’s appeal for a period of 10 days from Aug 15 to 26.

Last year, the Court of Appeal affirmed the High Court’s decision in July 2020 to convict Najib on seven charges of power abuse, criminal breach of trust and money laundering over RM42 million belonging to SRC International that entered into his AmBank accounts.

It also upheld Najib’s 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fine. However, the former prime minister was released on bail pending his final appeal before the Federal Court.

Najib had previously sought to include fresh evidence in his appeal, but the Federal Court dismissed his application, saying it did not fulfil the requirements of the law.

In 2007, another QC, Cherie Blair, was engaged by a company to appear before the Federal Court for a commercial dispute. Blair is also the wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair.

However, the courts turned down her petition for ad hoc admission, saying she did not fulfil the requirements of Section 18 (1) of the Legal Profession Act. The Federal Court had also asked how she would be able to assist in the case at that juncture as she had not been engaged during the trial stage.

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