KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 — Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah will apply to disqualify Attorney General Tommy Thomas from leading the prosecution against the former’s client, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

According to The Star newspaper, the senior lawyer said he will submit the application to the High Court within the next two weeks.

"We want to complete our research first and gather all the material we need. We will compile all the statements that he had issued about my client prior to the charging (on Wednesday),” Shafee was quoted as saying.

However, the report did not contain Shafee’s reason or reasons for wanting to disqualify Thomas.

Thomas reserved comment until he is able to view the filing in its entirety.

On Wednesday, Thomas personally led the prosecution team of 11 deputy public prosecutors that charged the former prime minister with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of power abuse in relation to RM42 million from a former 1MDB subsidiary.

Each of the four charges is punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine.

Najib claimed trial to all four charges.