DAP finds Ramasamy not guilty

The party disciplinary committee says the Penang deputy chief minister did not defy the gag order over his spat with DAP chairman Karpal Singh.

UPDATED

KUALA LUMPUR:  The DAP disciplinary committee today found no evidence that Penang DAP deputy chairman P Ramasamy had committed a misconduct with regard to a gag order over his spat with party chairman Karpal Singh.

Speaking at a press conference at the party headquarters, DAP disciplinary committee chairman Tan Kok Wai said the party found that Ramasamy was misquoted by an English daily.

On Dec 23, The Star reported Ramasamy, who is also Penang deputy chief minister, as criticising Karpal despite a gag order by the party.

Ramasamy later issued a statement saying that he never defied the gag order and that he only spoke about Penang and the Indian community in his interview with the daily.

He later filed a suit against The Star for not apologising over the report.

In the same month, 33 DAP members including Bagan Dalam assemblyman A Thanasekaran and Seri Delima assemblyman RSN Rayar lodged complaints against Ramasamy for masterminding a demonstration during the party convention on Dec 11, in protest against the two assemblymen.

Tan, who is also Cheras MP, said the party found that Ramasamy was not behind the demonstration as alleged by the assemblymen.

He also said that the pictures showing Ramasamy shaking hands with the some of the demonstrators did not reflect that he masterminded the gathering.

“Our investigations found that Ramasamy and Sungkai assemblyman A Sivanesan were trying to defuse the situation. The demonstrators were not even DAP members,” he added.

Meanwhile, Tan said the party had suspended six of its members from its Johor faction for misconduct.

Out of the six, its former Bentayang DAP deputy chairman Lim Kim Wat and its former treasurer Khoo Ah Huat were slapped with a three year suspension.