PUTRAJAYA — The Federal Court here today allowed Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s application to attend the hearing of his application for leave to appeal in a bid to revive his RM1.9 million lawsuit against former Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.

A three-judge panel chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Seri Hashim Hamzah allowed the application after Najib’s counsel, S. Bala Ravi, requested an order to produce (OTP) to enable the former prime minister to attend the proceedings from prison.

The order would allow Najib to attend the leave-to-appeal hearing and, should leave be granted, the substantive appeal hearing.

Also on the panel were Federal Court judges Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and Datuk Azmi Ariffin.

The leave-to-appeal application is scheduled to be heard on November 26.

Najib, 73, filed a notice of motion on February 10 this year seeking leave to appeal against the entire Court of Appeal decision, which upheld the High Court’s order striking out his lawsuit. He has submitted three questions of law for the Federal Court’s consideration.

On January 13 this year, a three-judge Court of Appeal panel upheld the High Court’s decision to strike out the suit, ruling that the action was premature because the relevant criminal proceedings had not commenced when the lawsuit was filed.

On November 25, 2022, the High Court allowed Thomas’s application to strike out the suit without a full trial.