Musa Aman to file bid to strike out election petition

Parti Warisan Sabah is seeking to nullify the former Sabah chief minister's win in the Sungai Sibuga state constituency.

Former chief minister Musa Aman is believed to be in London. (Bernama pic)

KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman will file an application to strike out the election petition submitted by Parti Warisan Sabah which seeks to nullify his victory in the Sungai Sibuga state constituency in the May 9 general election.

Musa’s counsel Rizwandean Bukhary M Borhan told Kuching-based High Court judge Azhahari Kamal Ramli through a video teleconference today that the legal team had received instructions to file the notice of motion to strike out the petition.

Azhahari heard this during the case management for the election petition.

Besides Rizwandean, also representing Musa were lawyers Mohd Reduan Aklee and Azhier Farhan.

They told the court that they had just filed the notice of their appointment on July 23.

Warisan’s Sungai Sibuga candidate Asmara Abdul Rahman, 63, named Musa, the returning officer and the Election Commission (EC) as the first, second and third respondents, respectively.

Asmara is seeking declarations that the election for Sungai Sibuga held on May 9 is void and that Musa is not duly elected or not supposed to have been returned.

In the event the striking out application is disallowed, Azhahari fixed Sept 18 to 28 for the trial which also be held at the Sandakan High Court.

Counsels Zaleha Yusuf Pan and Majnah Abdillah represented Asmara while the second and third respondents were represented by counsels Muammar Julkarnain, Japar Esteban, Abdul Fikry Jaafar Abdullah and Norlaily Annuar.

Musa is believed to be in London. He has denied that he was on the run and said he had left the country legally for UK to seek medical treatment and for “personal reasons”.

In the same video conference, the court also set Sept 4 to hear the striking out application by Umno’s Libaran MP Zakaria Mohd Edris whose win in the parliamentary seat is being challenged by Warisan.

The petitioner Irwanshah Mustapha named Zakaria, the returning officer and the EC as the first, second and third respondents, respectively.

He wants the court to declare that the election for the Libaran MP seat held on May 9 is also void.

Zakaria, who was also represented by Rizwandean, Mohd Reduan and Azhier, also informed the court that he would file a notice to strike out the election petition.

Azhahari set Oct 8 to 26 for trial of the petition in the Sandakan High Court in case the striking out application was dismissed.

Warisan had on June 18 filed election petitions to challenge the results of the 14th general election (GE14) in eight constituencies in Sabah.

Warisan secretary-general Loretto Padua Jr said the party would challenge the outcome of the polls in the parliamentary seats of Kimanis, Libaran, Keningau and Sipitang, and the state seats of Sungai Sibuga, Sook, Kundasang and Kiulu.

He further said the grounds for the petitions were mostly on money politics, postal votes and the delay in signing Form 14 to declare the winners of the election. -FMT