KUALA LUMPUR (July 13): The High Court today fixed July 29 for former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to make further submissions for their judicial review aimed at removing Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram from leading the prosecution in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial.

High Court Judge Justice Datuk Seri Mariana Yahya today heard the initial submission for the application from both sides, and requested that a transcript of the submission on top of a written submission to be delivered on the fixed date.

“I think the best thing is to fix a date when you submit your written submission and have a session for oral clarification. At the same time, I can ask for clarification or maybe either one of you may just reply to each other, besides the written one (submissions).

“Some of the arguments [today] by both parties may not be in the submission, so in addition to that [written submission], I need to have that transcript,” she ruled today.

Besides acting as Najib’s counsel, Muhammad Shafee also filed for the judicial review as he too is seeking to recuse Sri Ram from his RM9.5 million money laundering trial, which has yet to commence.

Muhammad Shafee was represented by lawyer Harvinderjit Singh, while the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) was represented by senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan.

During the submission today, Muhammad Shafee notified the court that the affidavit by former attorney-general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali now includes a statement by his wife, Puan Sri Faridah Begum, who was also present in the meeting between Mohamed Apandi and Sri Ram.

In Mohamed Apandi’s affidavit, the former attorney-general alleged that Sri Ram was sent to see him in January 2018 by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to persuade him to arrest Najib, the then prime minister.

As such, he claimed that Sri Ram, as a senior deputy public prosecutor (DPP) in Najib's 1MDB case, had a "clear mission of bias" against the former premier.

However, in his affidavit-in-reply filed, Sri Ram said Mohamed Apandi and his wife were targets of cybertroopers at the time.

He claimed that he attended to Mohamed Apandi and Faridah purely in his professional capacity where he rendered them legal advice.

Sri Ram said during the conversation, he advised Mohamed Apandi that there was evidence in the public domain against Najib and it was Mohamed Apandi’s duty to have Najib arrested and charged.

Sri Ram also denied ever mentioning that he was sent by Dr Mahathir.

On June 12, Najib filed an application to recuse Sri Ram from leading the prosecution in the 1MDB audit report tampering case.

This follows the Federal Court’s decision in October 2019 to dismiss applications by the AGC, Sri Ram and the government for leave to appeal against an earlier decision by the Court of Appeal granting Najib and Muhammad Shafee permission to make the challenge.

A three-member Federal Court bench led by Chief Justice Tan Sri Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat struck out the applications.

Sitting with Justice Tengku Maimun then were Federal Court Judges Datuk Seri Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Tan Sri Idrus Harun, it was reported.

For more stories on the 1MDB audit report tampering trial, click here.