1MDB trial: Hearing of Najib’s appeal to recuse judge set for Aug 20

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has set Aug 20 to hear former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s appeal to recuse judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah from presiding over his ongoing 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) trial.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Mustafa P. Kunyalam confirmed the date when contacted by Bernama.

He said Court of Appeal senior assistant registrar Nurul Azrina Mohamed Yusof set the date during the case management on Tuesday (April 16).

Najib is appealing against the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Aug 18 last year in dismissing his application to recuse Justice Sequerah from hearing his trial.

The former Pekan member of parliament applied to remove Sequerah from the trial after the judge disclosed that he and former 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan had been partners in a law firm.

In dismissing Najib’s application to recuse him, Justice Sequerah, now a Court of Appeal judge, ruled that since Loo left the legal firm in December 2008, there has been no communication either on a professional or personal basis between them.

Loo has testified in the ongoing trial as the prosecution’s 50th witness.

Najib, 70, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes amounting to RM2.3bil belonging to 1MDB and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.

The trial will resume on April 22. - Bernama