BANKRUPT REP’S SEAT DECLARED VACANT
Kelantan Umno leader urges assemblyman to explain matter, promises to help him
THE Nenggiri state seat has been declared vacant after its assemblyman, Datuk Mat Yusoff Abdul Ghani, was declared a bankrupt.
Kelantan State Assembly Speaker Datuk Abdullah Yakub said the Barisan Nasional assemblyman was declared bankrupt by the Selangor Insolvency Department on Nov 9 last year.
The Speaker’s Office received the bankruptcy notice only on May 28, while another notice was sent to the legal adviser’s office a week earlier, he said.
“Based on the notice by the (Selangor) Insolvency Department, the Nenggiri state seat is declared vacant and Mat Yusoff is no longer its assemblyman,” he said here yesterday.
Abdullah said this was in line with Article 31(1) of the Kelantan State Constitution.
“Under the law, an elected representative who has been declared bankrupt... cannot be an assemblyman.”
He said the notice on the vacancy would be sent to the state Election Commission office on Sunday.
In the 2013 General Election, Mat Yusoff won 6,654 votes to defeat PKR’s Mohammad Azihan Che Seman and independent candidate Abd Aziz Mohamed by a 3,849-vote majority.
Kelantan Umno yesterday expressed shock over Mat Yusoff’s disqualification as assemblyman.
Its information chief, Datuk Md Alwi Che Ahmad, said the party was unaware of Mat Yusoff’s business in Selangor.
“Almost every state party leader did not know what happened to Mat Yusoff.
“Some found out he was bankrupt only after being informed by (Kelantan Umno liaison committee chief) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed yesterday (Wednesday),” he told the New Straits Times.
Alwi, who is also Kok Lanas assemblyman, urged Mat Yusoff to explain the matter.
“The party’s door is always open. He can meet us and discuss the matter. We will help him.”