PUTRAJAYA, Oct 31 — The Court of Appeal has set January 8 next year for case management of an appeal by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak against a High Court’s dismissal of his application for a gag order to prohibit the media from publishing statements on the merits of his criminal charges.

The matter came up before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Zulhelmy Hassan for case management today who subsequently fixed another date for case management.

Deputy public prosecutor Budiman Lufti Mohamed said the matter was set for case management today to determine if the parties involved had received the High Court’s written grounds of judgment.

He said Najib’s counsel informed the deputy registrar that the judgment was received yesterday.

Budiman said a hearing date for Najib’s appeal was expected to be set during the next case management.

On August 10, High Court Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali dismissed Najib’s application for a gag order after finding his application to be unsustainable.

Najib, 65, is facing seven criminal charges over funds belonging to SRC International totalling RM42 million, namely three criminal breach of trust charges, one charge of abuse of power and three charges of money laundering.

He also claimed trial on September 20 this year to 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.6 billion allegedly deposited into his personal account.

On October 25, this year, Najib and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah were slapped with six charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving RM6.6 billion worth of government funds at the Sessions Court.

Also present at today’s case management was deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Izzat Fauzan and Najib’s counsel, Syahirah Hanipah. — Bernama