Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak on Friday failed in his bid to stay his trial over misappropriating RM2.28 billion (S$661.4 million) of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds and the hearing will proceed next Monday as scheduled.

Najib had attempted to pause the trial through Malaysia’s Court of Appeal after his application to recuse Justice Collin Sequerah was rejected by Kuala Lumpur’s High Court last Friday.

Justice Sequerah had revealed that he and former 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo, now in police custody, were previously partners in a law firm.

In delivering the Court of Appeal’s decision on Friday, the panel of three judges said there were no special circumstances that warranted delays to the trial, adding that public interest in the case demanded that the trial proceed next Monday as scheduled.

Najib’s lawyer said he had been instructed by him to file a fresh motion in the Federal Court, likely next Monday, to obtain a stay of the trial.

Najib, Malaysia’s sixth premier and the first to be imprisoned after leaving office, is standing trial for 25 charges of money laundering and abuse of power over the alleged misuse of 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his bank accounts.

He has been serving a 12-year jail sentence since August 2022 for his graft conviction involving RM42 million tied to a 1MDB subsidiary, SRC International.

In March, he was acquitted by Kuala Lumpur’s High Court on charges of power abuse by tampering with an audit of the now-defunct Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

Another charge of criminal breach of trust involving RM6.6 billion has yet to go to a full trial.