Anina withdraws suit against Najib, as appeal is academic

Anina does not want to waste court's time over her expulsion from Umno as she has joined another political party, says lawyer.

PUTRAJAYA: Former Langkawi Umno member Anina Saadudin has officially withdrawn her appeal against her expulsion from Umno and the RM2.6 billion donation in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s account.

Her lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla said it would be academic for his client to pursue the matter in the Federal Court due to a change in circumstances.

“We do not want to waste the court’s time as Anina has joined another party,” he told reporters.

The Federal Court was scheduled to hear Anina’s leave application today, to appeal against the findings of a lower court in April.

Haniff said he had filed a notice of continuance last week.

“She has withdrawn from pursuing the appeal and agreed to pay RM5,000 in costs to the other side,” he said.

At a press conference last week, Anina, who is a committee member of newly registered Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, said the reason was that she was now fighting through a new platform.

The Court of Appeal which threw out Anina’s appeal had said that any dispute involving political parties should be resolved outside court.

Apart from Najib, she had named Umno Secretary-General Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and executive secretary Ab Rauf Yusoh as defendants in her suit, filed on Sept 11 last year.

She had claimed that her dismissal from the party, following her criticism of Najib, was invalid under the Umno constitution.

This was because Adnan had allegedly distributed the sacking order to the media and the public before she had been officially notified.

Anina had also filed a suit against Najib over the controversial RM2.6 billion donation he had received. Najib had claimed the money had come from Saudi royalty.

The High Court struck out her lawsuit on her sacking on Dec 7.