Najib’s lawyer Harvinderjit Singh said he was informed of the hearing date by the Federal Court registry this morning.

He said the application under Rule 137 of the Federal Court Rules was filed yesterday but declined to go into the specifics.

Usually, such review applications are made to prevent injustice or abuse of court process.

On March 27, a seven-member bench chaired by Chief Justice Richard Malanjum set aside a Court of Appeal ruling granting Najib a stay of his trial pending his appeal to the Federal Court.

The High Court then set April 3 for hearing.

On Thursday, the Federal Court will also hear Najib’s three appeals on his request for additional documents to prepare his defence, a gag order to prevent the media and public from discussing his case, and a challenge to the constitutionality of a certificate to transfer seven cases from the Sessions Court to the High Court.

In the SRC International trial, Najib faces seven charges of embezzlement, abuse of power, and money laundering involving RM42 million in funds belonging to the company, a former unit of state fund 1MDB.

Lawyer Baljit Sidhu said Najib’s legal team would likely appeal to the High Court judge for a delay of trial pending the outcome in the Federal Court.

“Whether Najib succeeds depends on the arguments put forward by the prosecution and defence lawyers,” he said.

According to the Criminal Procedure Code, he said, trials must begin three months after the accused is charged.

Najib was charged with the seven offences between July and September last year.

Meanwhile, lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali said the charges would be read again if the trial begins.

“The prosecution will then read out the opening statement to inform the court how they will prove their case against Najib before calling their first witness,” he said.

He added that he expects no further interlocutory matters to be raised by the defence once the trial begins.