A Swiss man convicted of extortion in a case relating to alleged corruption at a firm chaired by the Malaysian premier, was denied bail by the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court yesterday.
The court said Xavier A Justo was a flight risk and denied his bail request.
The decision came 12 days after Justo filed an appeal over his three-year sentence for attempted blackmail of his former employer PetroSaudi International, his lawyer Worasit Wiriyapiboon said.
"The court argued that Justo's jail term was already reduced by half and if released the defendant might jump bail," Mr Worasit said.
Justo was sentenced on Aug 17 after pleading guilty to extortion.
Alleged connections between PetroSaudi and state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which has an advisory board headed by Prime Minister Najib Razak, surfaced in July.
Media outlets including the London-based website Sarawak Report, and Malaysian outlet The Edge, reported that nearly US$700 million (24.8 billion baht) in 1MDB funds were transferred in 2013 to bank accounts allegedly controlled by Mr Najib before the general elections.
Justo, who stole data from PetroSaudi and threatened to sell it, denied any direct involvement in the 1MDB case itself.
Mr Najib has denied any wrongdoing and called the leaking of documents part of a plot against him.
Mr Worasit said Justo is now filing a suit in Singapore against a number of people including Clare Rewcastle Brown, the editor of Sarawak Report and sister-in-law of former British prime minister Gordon Brown.
The defendants in that case are due to appear in a Singaporean court on Nov 4 to hear the charges, the lawyer said.
Justo previously claimed he was offered US$2 million to share the stolen data with an unidentified Malaysian group, but was never paid.
Sources involved in the investigation of the case said Justo's case in Singapore would show the buyers of the information had tampered with it.
This would eventually help clear allegations against Mr Najib, they said.