His lawyer, Amer Hamzah Arshad, told sessions court judge Suzana Hussin today that a notice of appeal was filed at the Court of Appeal on May 6.

When asked by the court whether a stay of proceedings would be sought pending the appeal, Amer said there were currently no plans to do so.

The court fixed June 29 for further case management.

On April 28, High Court judge Noor Ruwena Nurdin dismissed the application, saying Shamsul Iskandar fell short of the threshold under Section 417 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

In the application filed in February, Shamsul cited novel legal questions and complex issues which he argued warranted determination by the High Court and, ultimately, the Federal Court.

On Dec 4 last year, the former Hang Tuah Jaya MP was charged in the sessions court here with accepting RM100,000 in cash from businessman Albert Tei as an inducement to assist companies linked to Tei in securing approval for mineral exploration licences in Sabah.

He was also accused of receiving RM40,000 in cash for the same purpose, as well as furniture and electrical appliances valued at RM14,580 and RM22,249, respectively.

The following day, he was charged in the Shah Alam sessions court with receiving RM64,924 in rent payments from Tei, allegedly as an inducement to assist firms in which Tei had an interest in obtaining the same approvals.

The Shah Alam case was later transferred to the Kuala Lumpur sessions court to be jointly tried with the earlier charges.

Deputy public prosecutor Farah Ezlin Yusop Khan appeared for the prosecution.