The case management date was confirmed by deputy public prosecutor Ashrof Adrin Kamarul, Bernama reported.

It will be held before the Federal Court deputy registrar via video conferencing.

On June 7, the former prime minister’s lawyers signed off on a notice of motion asking the Federal Court to declare the entire High Court trial in which he was convicted and sentenced null and void and for the case to be retried.

Najib’s legal team contends that he suffered a failure of natural justice, believing trial judge Nazlan Mohd Ghazali should have recused himself due to a conflict of interest.

In an affidavit affirmed to support the application, Najib claimed that Nazlan, who was Maybank’s general counsel and company secretary between July 2006 and April 2015, ought to at least have had “constructive knowledge” of what the defence argued was the true source of SRC’s funds, which they say was central to issues in the case.

The law imputes “constructive knowledge” of a matter to a person even if he does not have actual knowledge if the matter could have become known to him through the exercise of reasonable care.

According to Najib, the documents at the heart of the application only came to light in May this year, and as such, he was not in a position to raise this issue either at the High Court or at the Court of Appeal previously.

Ultimately, the apex court will have to consider whether Nazlan had knowledge of the matters as claimed by Najib and whether such knowledge made him a potential witness in the case.

The Federal Court will also have to consider whether there was, as a result, a real danger of bias in Nazlan presiding over the trial.