KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak has gone to the Court of Appeal in his attempt to halt his corruption trial for misappropriating funds belonging to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
The appellate court has fixed tomorrow to hear the former prime minister's appeal over the High Court's decision which dismissed his stay application recently.
A source from the Attorney-General's Chambers confirmed this when contacted.
The former Pekan member of parliament sought a stay in the proceedings pending his appeal to recuse the presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
The Court of Appeal judge, who presided as the High Court judge, earlier dismissed Najib's application to recuse him over his relationship with former 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan.
Sequerah in his ruling said there had been no communication between them since Loo left the firm 15 years ago.
He said there was no nexus between the issues in this trial and the past relationship between him and his former partner in legal practice.
Loo's name was heavily mentioned during Najib's ongoing trial for allegedly misappropriating RM2.3 billion from 1MDB.
It was reported that she was among the proxies working with fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low to misappropriate millions of ringgit from the fund.
Sequerah also dismissed Najib lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah's application to stay the proceedings pending appeal at the Court of Appeal.
Najib, 70, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.