Azmin hints at defending Gombak seat despite voters’ suit against him

 

Former PKR deputy president Azmin Ali said the election pledges in GE14 were made by Pakatan Harapan and not him as a candidate.

PETALING JAYA: Gombak MP Azmin Ali, who is being sued by his voters for leaving the party under which he stood for in the 2018 general election, says he will continue to serve the constituency, the parliamentary seat he has held for 13 years.

“I am still determined to continue leading Gombak and representing every layer of society, regardless of race and religion,” he said in a Twitter post last night.

“This is my responsibility as an MP and a Malaysian citizen who longs for prosperity for all Malaysians.”

The senior minister for economy’s statement comes a week after he denied breaching his fiduciary duty as an MP and deceiving his voters when he quit PKR and joined PPBM to form Perikatan Nasional last year.

In response to a lawsuit filed by 10 Gombak voters, Azmin said in his affidavit of reply that the decision to leave PKR was taken to ensure his Gombak voters would not be “victims” of a power struggle within his former party and the split within Pakatan Harapan (PH).

In their statement of claim, the voters had said Azmin caused the collapse of the PH government in February 2020 by joining PN, which included Barisan Nasional and persons Azmin himself had acknowledged in the past were “credibly accused of corrupt practices”.

The voters said the former PKR deputy president had pledged to abide by PH’s 2018 election manifesto and to address, among others, the wrongdoings of BN when it was part of the federal government.

In response, Azmin said the election pledges made during the 14th general election campaign were done in PH’s name and not in his capacity as candidate for the Gombak parliamentary and Bukit Antarabangsa state seats. - FMT