This follows the apex court's dismissal of an election petition brought by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidate Madhi Hasan and voter, Azmi Sulaiman.
A five-man bench chaired by Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria said the allegation of bribery by Zahid took place outside nomination day.
"Under Section 32(C) of the Election Offences Act, the allegation complained of must be committed by the candidate between nomination day and election day," he said.
Arifin said the purported act by Zahid was committed on April 19, 2013.
The campaign period for the election began from April 20 to May 4, 2013.
"Therefore, on April 19, he (Zahid) was not a candidate," Arifin said of the unanimous ruling.
Zahid's lawyers had denied that their client was involved in bribing voters.
On February 19 (this year) election judge Datuk Hasnah Mohammed Hashim allowed a preliminary objection raised by Zahid that the petitioners' allegations of electoral corruption against him were not supported by sufficient facts.
On June 11 last year, Madhi and Azmi filed the petitions on the grounds that Zahid allegedly committed corrupt and illegal practices related to the 13th general election.
Among the allegations were vote-buying and spending above the RM200,000 limit permitted in a parliamentary election campaign.
In the May 5 polls, Zahid defeated Madhi by a 2,108-vote majority, obtaining 17,176 votes. Madhi secured 15,068 votes.
Counsel Edmund Bon and Chong Kok Yew acted for Madhi and Azmi, respectively, while Zahid was represented by Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin.
- TMI
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.