THE Court of Appeal will make a decision on former prime minister Najib Razak’s appeal against a dismissal of his bid to disqualify Gopal Sri Ram from leading the prosecution team in his 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) cases, before hearing is scheduled to begin on May 14.

A three-member panel comprising Justices Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Rhodzariah Bujang and Lau Bee Lan heard submissions from Najib’s lawyers today, led by Shafee Abdullah and Harvinderjit Singh.

The prosecution, led by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, also filed a preliminary objection against Najib’s appeal to disqualify Sri Ram as prosecutor, which was centred on whether the matter is appealable.

Harvinderjit told the judges that their appeal was based on the fact that Sri Ram had been involved in the 1MDB investigations, which posed a conflict of interest.

“Having been involved, he cannot be the prosecution,” the lawyer told the bench.

Harvinderjit cited excerpts of Sri Ram’s letter of appointment, his interview which he had conducted with an English portal and English financial daily, and also a press statement which suggested that he had worked on the 1MDB investigations.

“These three pieces of evidence proved that he was involved in the 1MDB investigation. He was supervising investigations and this was never denied by the DPP,” he said.

However, Akram denied that there was a conflict of interest and questioned whether the matter was even appealable.

After almost four hours, Zabariah said that they will make a decision before the trial commences on May 14, but did not give a specific date.

On March 1 this year, high court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah dismissed Najib’s application to disqualify Sri Ram, the former Federal Court judge appointed as senior deputy public prosecutor.

Sequerah also held that Najib had no right to demand for Sri Ram’s letter of appointment, and dismissed the application to temporarily suspend the trial.

On September 20, 2018, Najib was charged with four counts under the MACC Act 2009 and 21 counts for money laundering involving 1MDB funds, amounting to RM2.28 billion. – April 23, 2019.