High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali will preside over former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's three charges of criminal breach of trust and one for abuse of power relating to funds involving SRC International.

He replaces Justice Sophian Abdul Razak who recorded Najib's plea of not guilty last month.

Questions on Justice Sophian's impartiality were raised after it was revealed that he is the brother of Mohd Soffi Abdul Razak, a five-term Umno assemblyperson in Pahang and a four-time state exco member.

Najib, the former Umno president, hails from Pahang and is the MP for Pekan.

Justice Mohd Nazlan, a graduate of Oxford University, is listed in the court's cause list to preside over the case management of Najib's matter on Wednesday, Aug 8.

Malaysiakini reported last Friday on the possibility of a new judge taking over Najib's case following Justice Sophian's transfer effective Aug 1, with sources suggesting that Justice Mohd Nazlan might take over the matter.

Justice Sophian has been moved to the civil division, where he replaces Justice S Nantha Balan, who is now at the commercial division, replacing Justice Mohd Nazlan.

Justice Mohd Nazlan, 51, an alumnus of Malay College Kuala Kangsar, holds a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence and a Master of Arts from Oxford. He is a barrister-at-law from Lincoln’s Inn, London.

After practising law at Zaid Ibrahim & Co for five years, he served at the Securities Commission as its head of enforcement before he moved to Maybank, where he was head of corporate and legal services, general counsel and executive vice-president before joining the judiciary.

Prior to this, several legal experts have suggested the possibility of a Court of Appeal judge or a senior High Court judge from another state being appointed to hear Najib's high profile case.

It followed past practices or precedents, especially the corruption case in 1977 involving former Selangor menteri besar, the late Harun Idris, which was presided by the late Sultan Azlan Shah, who was then a Federal Court judge.

In 1984, senior judge Hashim Yeop Sani was brought for the murder trial of former youth and sports minister Mokhtar Hashim.

Under Article 125A of the Federal Constitution, judges from the Federal Court or Court of Appeal have the power to sit as a High Court judge.

Hence, Chief Judge of Malaya Zaharah Ibrahim can consult the Chief Justice Richard Malanjum or Court of Appeal president Ahmad Ma'arop on this matter.