Court strikes out Gombak voters’ suit against Azmin

 

International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali succeeded in his appeal to nullify a legal action over his alleged breach of 14th general elections electoral promises.

The Court of Appeal this morning allowed the Gombak MP’s bid to strike out the lawsuit by 10 of his parliamentary constituents.

When contacted, the voters’ counsel Yohendra Nadarajan confirmed that the three-person bench - chaired by judge Yaacob Md Sam and also members Lee Heng Cheong and Hashim Hamzah - delivered a unanimous decision.

“The court found that there was no appellable error in disallowing the appellant’s striking out the application, which warrants appellate intervention.

“The corum ruled that the respondents’ claim was unsustainable and thus sei aside the High Court decision,” the lawyer said.

Yohendra added that he is taking instruction from his client on whether to appeal to the apex court, namely the Federal Court.

Right to association

Azmin’s appeal was against the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision on June 30 last year, which disallowed his bid to nullify the civil action.

The former PKR deputy president sought the striking-out as he claimed the suit violated his fundamental right to association under the Federal Constitution.

Azmin is now a Bersatu supreme council member.

In February 2020, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin took his party out of Pakatan Harapan. He was joined by a group of PKR defectors led by Azmin in what was later dubbed the “Sheraton Move”.

This triggered the collapse of the Dr Mahathir Mohamad-led Harapan administration and the establishment of the present Perikatan Nasional government.

Initially, Muhyiddin took over the premiership. But he later stepped down and Ismail Sabri Yaakob took over as prime minister.

In late 2020, the 10 Gombak voters filed a suit against Azmin over an alleged breach of purported promises he made in the run-up to the 14th general election.

According to a copy of the suit, the 10 plaintiffs are seeking a total of nine court declarations, including how their elected representative owed them a fiduciary duty and had allegedly breached that duty.

A fiduciary duty typically refers to a relationship between a trustee and a beneficiary.

The plaintiffs further alleged that Azmin had violated their trust by working with BN in the Sheraton Move and causing the collapse of the Harapan government, despite having campaigned and won the Gombak parliamentary seat on a PKR/Harapan ticket. - Mkini