Kuala Lampur, June 27 -- An appeal is a creature of statute and will only lie if a statute gives such a right and then only within the limits which the statute giving the right stipulates.

Accordingly, by reason of Section 87(1) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, an appeal lies to the country's apex court -- that is, the Federal Court -- from any decision of the Court of Appeal in its appellate jurisdiction in respect of a criminal matter decided by the High Court in its original jurisdiction.

This means that the criminal trial must commence in the High Court, as the case was in the corruption case of former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

Syed Saddiq was convicted by the High Court in 2023. On Wednesday (Ju...