Lawyers for former premier Najib Abdul Razak have filed a notice of appeal over the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision on Friday rejecting their application for a gag order to prevent the media and public from discussing their client's upcoming corruption cases.
Lawyer Havinderjit Singh, when contacted, confirmed the appeal notice was filed online at 3.22pm today.
On Friday, Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali dismissed Najib's application for a gag order on his case ruling that such a restriction would violate the Federal Constitution's freedom of speech and expression clauses.
He said the court found there was nothing prejudicial against Najib as the court did not have a jury system and the decision was made by the judge.
"The existing law of contempt and defamation already provides available and ready measures to deal with any substantial risk of prejudice or interference with the criminal justice system.
"The law of contempt can only be granted in the most exceptional of cases, where the substantial risk of prejudice is additionally especially imminent and serious.
"In light of the aforesaid key considerations, I find the motion unsustainable. If granted, it would represent a major incursion into the constitutional right of freedom of speech and freedom of expression under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution," Justice Nazlan ruled.
Najib was seeking to make the gag order permanent after obtaining an interim order allowing it after he was charged on July 4.
The former premier is faced with three criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power, all charged in relation to RM42 million which was deposited into his personal accounts from SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
Hearing has been fixed from Feb 12 to March 29.
[More to follow] - Mkini
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