A Mareva injunction is a court order which freezes the assets of a defendant from being spent pending the outcome of a legal action.

Najib’s lawyer, Farhan Shafee, told a three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Justice Lee Swee Seng that the appeal was discontinued as it had become academic.

Lee, who sat with Justices Choo Kah Sing and Azman Abdullah, then struck out the appeal and awarded RM30,000 in costs to 1MDB.

Lawyers Khoo Guan Huat, Siva Kumar Kanagasabai, Dhanyaa Shreeya Sukumar and Pavidren Sivananda Rastnam appeared for the government-linked company.

The government, through 1MDB and its subsidiary companies – 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd, 1MDB Energy Ltd, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd and Global Diversified Investment Company Ltd – filed the lawsuit against Najib and 14 others in May 2021.

They claimed that Najib and the others committed fraudulent misrepresentations, breach of duties, breach of statutory duties and unjust enrichment.

However, the proceedings were discontinued against seven of the defendants – former 1MDB CEOs Mohd 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.

Apart from Najib, the defendants against whom the proceedings are ongoing are Loo Ai Swan, also known as Jasmine Loo, Tang Keng Chee, Geh Choh Heng, Vincent Koh, Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, Kelvin Tan and Radhi Mohamad.

1MDB had obtained the injunction against Najib or his agents in 2022, freezing his assets in relation to its claim of US$681 million against the former prime minister and finance minister, before the determination of the civil suit.

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

On Sept 27 last year, the High Court upheld the injunction following an inter partes hearing. Najib appealed this decision to the Court of Appeal.

The civil suit is scheduled for hearing on July 24, 2025.