Umno: Anina’s sacking cannot be brought to court

Umno executive secretary says under the Societies Act the decision of a political party is final and cannot be challenged in any court.

KUALA LUMPUR: The sacking of Anina Saadudin from Umno is final and cannot be brought to court, said party executive secretary Ab Rauf Yusoh.

He said Anina did not have the authority or locus standi to initiate court action through a suit filed on August 28.

“The decision to sack the plaintiff (Anina) by Umno was final, conclusive and cannot be taken to court in line with Section 18C of the Societies Act 1966,” he said in a supporting affidavit in an application to strike out a lawsuit filed by Anina against him and Umno president Najib Razak.

The application was filed yesterday. However, the documents were only given to the media today.

Section 18C of the Societies Act 1966 states that the decision of a political party shall be final and conclusive and such decision cannot be challenged, appealed against, reviewed, quashed or called in question in any court.

In the suit, Anina, among others, was seeking to claim a portion of the RM2.6 billion said to have been donated to Najib by a friendly Middle Eastern nation to help Umno in its 2013 election campaign.

Anina is also seeking an injunction to prevent the defendants from taking disciplinary action against her pending the disposal of the suit.

In the affidavit, Ab Rauf also claimed that Anina had no locus standi to file the suit as her membership in Umno was automatically terminated when she took the party to court as provided by the party constitution.

“The claim by the plaintiff was embarrassing, petty and an abuse of the court process where it was filed with a hidden motive,” he said.

Meanwhile, lawyer Nor Emilia Mohd Iszeham, representing Najib and Abdul Rauf, told Bernama that the court had set October 6 for case management of the application before High Court judge Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab.

She said she had also filed an application by Najib and Abdul Rauf for a stay of proceedings of several applications by Anina pending the disposal of their application to strike out the suit.

– BERNAMA