Justice P Ravinthran said the former prime minister’s application to be present in the High Court at the hearing of 1MDB’s mareva injunction against him has been rendered academic.

On Nov 10 last year, the High Court rejected Najib’s bid to be present at the hearing.

The injunction, granted on an ex parte basis on Feb 8 last year, was affirmed by the High Court on Sept 27 this year. An appeal is pending from that decision in the Court of Appeal.

“There is nothing to preclude the applicant (Najib) from filing another application (to attend hearings in the Court of Appeal),” Ravinthran said.

The other judges who sat with Ravinthran were Justices Mariana Yahya and Lim Chong Fong.

The court made no order on costs.

Earlier, 1MDB’s lawyer, K Sivakumar, argued that the application was now academic, as the matter had been disposed of by the High Court.

He said there is nothing to stop Najib from filing a fresh application if he wants to attend the Court of Appeal hearing in the future.

Najib’s lead counsel, Shafee Abdullah, said the application concerns the former prime minister’s rights.

The government, through 1MDB and its subsidiary companies, filed a lawsuit against Najib and 14 others in May 2021.

They claimed that Najib and the others had made fraudulent misrepresentations, breached their duties, including statutory duties, and had been unjustly enriched.

1MDB had obtained the injunction against Najib or his agents last year, freezing his assets in relation to its claim of US$681 million against him, pending the determination of the civil suit.

The court injunction allowed Najib to withdraw RM100,000 every month for daily expenses and legal fees.

Initially, 15 individuals, including Najib, were named as defendants.

However, proceedings were discontinued against seven of them – former 1MDB CEOs Hazem Abdul Rahman and Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, former directors Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, Ismee Ismail, Ong Gim Huat and Ashvin Jethanand Valiram, and former chief financial officer Azmi Tahir.