The 16 Umno members who sought he intervention of the courts in seeking the party’s dissolution will file a contempt proceeding to challenge their sacking, according to their lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla.
In a statement today, Haniff said the action filed by the 16 is on basis that the Umno Supreme Council had breached Article 10.16 of the party’s constitution in delaying its party elections until next year.
“Now, when the 16 have taken the Registrar of Societies and Umno to court, the very party constitution which the Umno supreme council has breached is being used to justify the ‘sacking’ of the members,” he said.
Haniff also described the decision announced by Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor as being arbitrary and unjust.
“Furthermore, this act of Umno is tantamount to interference with the course of justice.
“Whilst having knowledge of that action and that the 16 are seeking a stay of all Umno activities and affairs, yet Umno has decided to ‘sack’ them,” he said, arguing that it was a clear and blatant act of contempt by the party.
The court action remains valid, Haniff contends, as the ROS was named as its main respondent and their first two demands to the court were made against the ROS, while Umno was named as the second respondent.
According to a New Straits Times report, Tengku Adnan had accused the 16 of being part of an opposition “game” to bring down Umno.
He also said as the secretary-general for both Umno and Barisan Nasional, he could assure that Umno adhered to the rules set by the ROS.
The sixteen, from 11 Umno branches in six states, had yesterday filed an application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court seeking leave to proceed with a judicial review to quash the ROS decision to allow the party a time extension in order to hold its polls.
The 16 are – Salihudin Ahmad Khalid, Noor Halimi Yahya, Mariam Mohd Ishak, Mohd Hafami Hanif, Saharuddin Tukiman, Azaid Jani, Normalawati Hassan, Radiana Abd Manaf, Mohd Raafeek Rahim, Nurul Hanna Mohd Suhot, Kamarul Abd Wahid, Mohd Hikamal Md Hassim, Muzamzamir Abd Wahab, Norizam Jamaludin, Rohani Ahmad and Muhamad Hafizi Hashim.
They also sought the deregistration of Umno under Section 14(2) and 14(5) of the Societies Act 1966 for both provisional and permanent dissolution.
This follows their argument that the last day for Umno branches to hold their elections was on Feb 28, and the last day for the supreme council and 191 divisions to function was on April 19, this year. — M’kini
MEANWHILE, according to Bernama:
PUTRAJAYA— Umno today expelled with immediate effect the 16 members who filed an application for a judicial review in the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday to have the party dissolved over alleged violation of the party constitution.
Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said their action was clearly in violation of Clause 20.7 of the Umno Constitution which stipulated that any member who went to court over party matters would lose his or her membership automatically.
“All these 16 people are probably wolves in sheep’s clothing, thorns in the flesh. If they want to betray the party, it is better that they are out of the party so that we know who our enemies are rather than being in the party as termites.
“I consulted our lawyers yesterday and all the 16 have been expelled. I will issue the (expulsion) letters today,” he said to reporters after officiating at a ground-breaking for a multi-level car park at Precinct 8 here.
Tengku Adnan said he believed that the 16 people had been used by outsiders unhappy with Umno.
“I know what happened. The (political) Opposition wanted a tit for tat. They were unable to handle their party which had problems with the Registrar of Societies (RoS). They know they are weak and will lose (in the general election). So, they cause all kinds of trouble,” he said.
The 16 Umno members had resorted to legal action to challenge the legitimacy of Umno as a political party for having deferred the party elections.
Tengku Adnan said their allegation was baseless because, as the Umno secretary-general, he had requested RoS to have the party elections postponed to April 2019.
“If RoS had not given its approval, we would have had the party elections,” he said.
Tengku Adnan said there was no truth to a portal news report that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, as the Umno president, would be unable to sign the letters of electoral candidacy for the party’s candidates contesting the 14th general election following the filing of the application for judicial review.
“There is no problem. We abide by the constitution and we comply with the rules stipulated by the RoS,” he said.
Tengku Adnan, who is also Barisan Nasional secretary-general, said the names of BN candidates for GE14 would be revealed by the respective state BN chairmen between tomorrow and Tuesday.
The respective state BN chairmen would set the date and time for the announcement, he added.
“The names of candidates for the Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan federal territories will be announced along with the manifesto at 9am tomorrow at the Putra World Trade Centre,” he said.
Tengku Adnan said he had received the report on the screening of the selected BN candidates for GE14 from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Royal Malaysia Police and Department of Insolvency.— Bernama
MKINI / BERNAMA
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