Lawyer Jasmine Cheong, appearing for Arul Kanda, said the prosecution has not filed its petition of appeal as the High Court has yet to compile the necessary documents, including the notes of evidence taken at trial.
“As such, the Court of Appeal has fixed a second case management on May 26,” she told FMT.
The appeal came up for its first case management before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Khairi Haron today.
Lawyer Alaistair Norman represented Najib, while deputy public prosecutor Parveen Hameedah Natchiar appeared for the prosecution.
The prosecution filed its notice of appeal on March 9, six days after trial judge Zaini Mazlan acquitted Najib and Arul Kanda without calling for their defence.
In a criminal case, the court registry is required to prepare an appeal record, which must include the written judgment issued by the court of first instance, notes of proceedings and all exhibits tendered at the trial.
The appellant must then file the petition of appeal identifying where the trial judge erred when handing down his decision in the case.
The petition of appeal must be filed within 10 days of receiving the appeal records.
On March 3, Najib was freed from a charge of abusing his power to cause amendments to be made to the 1MDB audit report.
Arul Kanda was acquitted of a charge of abetting Najib in the commission of the alleged offence.
Zaini held that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against Najib under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009.
He said that although four items were removed from the 1MDB audit report, none of those items gave rise to the possibility of any civil or criminal proceedings being brought against Najib.
He pointed out that the key prosecution witness, former auditor-general Ambrin Buang, had agreed that he had not been “forced or coerced” by Najib into making changes to an earlier version of the report he prepared.
The High Court also granted Arul Kanda a certificate of indemnity after it was satisfied that he had been truthful and had given full discovery when testifying in the case.
Najib was charged with abusing his power to obtain immunity from legal action and causing amendments to the finalised 1MDB audit report prior to its tabling before the Public Accounts Committee.
Arul Kanda was accused of abetting him in the commission of the alleged offence said to have been committed at the Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya between Feb 22 and 26, 2016.