THE Court of Appeal today dismissed the application from the prosecution and defence to postpone former prime minister Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial, which is scheduled to start on August 19.

Najib is currently facing three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power in relation to SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

In an unprecedented move, both the prosecution and defence today filed notices of appeal against the 1MDB trial start date after high court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah rejected the former’s request to postpone the 1MDB trial, and fixed August 19 for it to commence.

A three-member panel, led by justice Abdul Rahman Sebli, ruled that the courts should be utilised as a “mere repository” by the prosecution to adjourn trial dates.

The panel, including Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Hasnah Mohammad Hashim, added that the right to apply for postponement is only applicable when there is a clash of trial dates.

In an immediate response, Najib’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said he will file an appeal in the Federal Court immediately.
 
Najib’s SRC International trial, presided by Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, is ongoing. The trial began on April 3 and continues until August 15.

The 1MDB trial, to be heard by Sequerah, is set to run from August 19 until November 14.

Both the prosecution and defence filed notices of appeal against the 1MDB trial start date a day after Sequerah made the decision on July 18.

Najib is slapped with 25 charges of money-laundering and abuse of power over RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds deposited into his AmBank account between February 2011 and December 2014. – August 5, 2019.