Gombak voters fail to get leave to appeal in bid to reinstate suit against Azmin

Ten Gombak voters today failed in their bid to obtain leave from the Federal Court to pursue an appeal to reinstate their lawsuit against Gombak MP Mohamed Azmin Ali for alleged deceit and breach of fiduciary duty.

A three-man panel led by Chief Judge of Malaya Azahar Mohamed dismissed their application.

Reading the court's unanimous decision, Azahar said the legal questions proposed by the voters' lawyer for the determination of the Federal Court did not meet the threshold requirement of Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

He made no order as to costs, saying the matter was a public interest case.

The other two judges presiding on the panel were Federal Court judges Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Rhodzariah Bujang.
 
In the court proceeding, which was conducted online, lawyer K Shanmuga, representing the voters, proposed four legal questions, arguing that the issues involved whether a MP who had made representations during the election could go against the promises that he had made.

However, Azmin's counsel, Muhammad Nizamuddin Abdul Hamid, countered, saying that leave should not be granted.

In order for an applicant to get leave to pursue an appeal to the Federal Court, he or she must convince the court by framing novel legal and constitutional questions of public importance which are being raised for the first time, as required under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act.

The voters wanted their suit against Azmin to be reinstated and remitted back to the High Court for trial. The suit was struck out by the Court of Appeal on April 13 this year after Azmin's appeal was allowed.

The 10 voters sued Azmin, who is the international trade and industry minister, for alleged deceit and breach of fiduciary duty as their MP through the Sheraton Move that caused the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government in February 2020.
 
In their statement of claim, the voters sought, among others, a declaration that Azmin, as the Gombak MP, had breached his fiduciary obligations, deceived them during the election in the constituency, and breached the representation made to them.

They sought damages, including aggravated and exemplary damages, interests, costs and other orders deemed fit by the court.

On June 30 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Azmin's application to strike out the suit, prompting him to appeal to the Court of Appeal which subsequently decided in his favour.

In his application, Azmin argued that the suit violated his fundamental right to freedom of association as provided for under Article 10 Clause (1)(c) of the Federal Constitution.

Also representing the voters were lawyers A Surendra Ananth and Yohendra Nadarajan, while Azmin was also represented by lawyer Nurul Najwa Zainuddin.