Deputy public prosecutor Mustapha Kunyalam said the ex-parte application will be heard by Justice Noorin Badaruddin.

“We have been asked to file our written submissions by Feb 29,” Mustapha told reporters after a case management before senior assistant registrar Nur Azizah Jaafar today.

Counsel Jamie Wong appeared for Isham.

Filed on Dec 28 last year, the application to cite Isham for contempt concerns statements he is alleged to have made during an interview titled “Townhall for Justice: Keadilan Sebenarnya Untuk Siapa” published on Sept 30 last year through a Facebook account known as Malaya Post.

In an affidavit filed in support of the leave application, Mustapha claimed that Isham had during the interview commented on Najib’s 1MDB and SRC International trials, and on the Federal Court’s conduct of the final appeal in the latter case.

Isham is also alleged to have accused Justices Collin Lawrence Sequerah and Nazlan Ghazali, presiding over the 1MDB and SRC International trials, respectively, of bias and said they ought to have withdrawn from hearing the cases.

Both Sequerah and Nazlan now sit in the Court of Appeal.

Mustapha also alleged that Isham had claimed that the panel of five judges, led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who heard Najib’s final appeal of his conviction and sentence in the SRC International case, had judged the case unfairly.

According to the affidavit, the statements made by Isham could undermine the public’s confidence in the judiciary and could be considered as interference with the administration of justice.

Isham has said he will fight the contempt action.

Commenting on the application last month, he claimed that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government was unstable, and alleged that the contempt proceedings initiated against him were politically motivated and a “desperate attempt to maintain their power”.