Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's appeal against conviction and sentence started Monday after the Court of Appeal threw out Najib's application for an adjournment.
Three appellate court judges, chaired by Justice Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, unanimously decided there was "no sufficient reason" to adjourn the hearing.
The application asked for the court to adjourn the hearing for a month so Najib's lawyers could add "additional evidence."
In July former premier Najib was found guilty by the High Court of seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering in relation to 42 million ringgit ($10.1 million) belonging to SRC International. He was sentenced to 12 years' prison. He now claims he didn't get a fair trial. The sentence has been stayed while waiting for the appeals. The appeal is expected to last until April 22.
Prosecutor V. Sithambaram said Najib's lawyers were just stalling "on nonvalid grounds." Sithambaram said the request for adjournment should have been made before Monday's appeal started.
Razak's lawyers said he "had no knowledge of the 42 million ringgit transactions into his account or knowledge that the same were from the account of SRC International."
SRC International is a former unit of 1MDB. 1MDB was a government-run strategic development company. Najib has been accused of scamming as much as $700 million from the fund.
In the middle of the scandal is Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, otherwise known as Jho Low, who was charged both in his home country and in the U.S. as the mastermind of the multibilliondollar looting.
Low has maintained his innocence throughout Najib's trial. His whereabouts are unknown but some believe he might emerge as Najib's lawyers put the pressure on him.
Najib's lawyers are expected to paint Najib as Jho Low's victim, who is believed to be the person among everyone involved in the scandal to have exact knowledge about how much was looted, which specific people received how much and who made the decisions.
Jho Low has been missing for nearly five years. He was found to have purchased multiple luxury properties in the U.S. since 2010.
According to recordings obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera for its special investigation, Jho Low: Hunt for a Fugitive, the businessman-turned-fugitive said he only "borrowed" billions from the sovereign fund to live in luxury.
The news agency wrote that the recordings indicated Jho Low's "sense of entitlement and lack of remorse" as he tried to bargain for freedom with the Malaysian government under Mahatmir Mohamad.
