June 30 hearing for Azmin’s bid to strike out suit by Gombak voters

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today set June 30 to hear Mohamed Azmin Ali’s application to strike out a suit filed against him by 10 Gombak voters for alleged deceit and breach of fiduciary duty as MP for the constituency.

His lawyer Nizamuddin Hamid, when contacted, said justice Akhtar Tahir will hear on the same day the voters’ application to strike out several paragraphs from Azmin’s statement of defence.

According to Nizamuddin, the paragraphs in question contain Azmin’s reasons for leaving PKR.

“Both parties are to file their affidavits in reply in respect of the two applications on April 30 while the hearing on June 30 will be conducted via Zoom,” he said after case management which was conducted through e-review before deputy registrar Maslinda Selamat today.

On March 12, Azmin filed the application on grounds that the suit did not disclose a reasonable cause of action, and was instead defamatory, frivolous, vexatious or led to an abuse of the court process as well as ultra vires the Federal Constitution.

The application was made on grounds that the suit violated the defendant’s fundamental right to freedom of association as provided for under Article 10 Clause (1) (c) of the Federal Constitution.

On Nov 27 last year, the 10 voters, registered in the Gombak constituency, filed the suit against Azmin for alleged deceit and breach of fiduciary duty through the “Sheraton Move” which caused the Pakatan Harapan government to collapse in February last year.

In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs, aged between 37 and 65, sought among others a declaration that Azmin, as Gombak MP, had breached his fiduciary obligations, deceived them during the elections in the constituency and breached the representation made to them.

The voters claimed that by breaching these representations, the defendant had violated their constitutional rights, especially the principles of parliamentary democracy and representative democracy, which form part of the basic structure of the constitution.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages, including aggravated or exemplary damages, interests, costs and other orders deemed fit by the court.