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KOTA KINABALU: Warisan has taken another step in his quest to get Sebatik Assemblyman Hassan A Gani Pg Amir to vacate his seat by reporting to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) here today.
His deputy youth director, Ismail Ayub, said his party wanted the anti-bribery agency to investigate why Hassan decided to leave Warisan even after signing and taking an oath of allegiance to the party.
Ismail said Hassan had voluntarily signed a number of documents, including a resignation letter stating that he would vacate his seat if he left Warisan for another political party.
“He signed all of these documents without any coercion or pressure and took an oath of allegiance to Warisan which was videotaped,” he told reporters after presenting the report at MACC’s Likas office here.
But then, he said, Hassan claimed he was forced to sign the documents because he wanted to be Warisan’s electoral candidate for the Sebatik seat on the east coast.
“If you watch the video, we don’t see any indication that he was forced or threatened to sign the documents.
“So, we are challenging his statement saying that he was forced to do so. We are here to protect the mandate of the voters of Sebatik, which was not given to Hassan but to Warisan. “
Ismail said they turned over the documents and related material to the MACC, including the video in which Hassan was sworn in.
“We will leave it to MACC to investigate and take further action.
“On our side, we will await the instructions of the Warisan leadership and Secretary General Loretto Padua Jr and the party will follow up with a legal recourse,” he said.
He added that the party respected the decision of the president of the Sabah state assembly, Kadzim M Yahya, to reject the resignation letter previously signed by Hassan.
“At the same time, we have the legal right to go ahead with the matter,” Ismail said.
Warisan had earlier this week refused to back down even after Kadzim rejected the pre-signed resignation letter, and Loretto said the party would take legal action to force the speaker to accept Hassan’s resignation.
Loretto said the party’s lawyers have documents clearly indicating that Hassan agreed to resign if he left the party, adding that Hassan also voluntarily signed a letter of allegiance to Warisan.
Kadzim had said that he could not accept the letter signed by Hassan because it was “ineffective” under the law.
Other lawyers have also said that the letter could not be enforced because it violated the freedom of association guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.
