Court strikes out election petitions against Sibuga, Libaran seats won by BN

SANDAKAN: The Sungai Sibuga state seat and Libaran parliamentary seat remained under Barisan Nasional ( BN) after the Special Election Court here struck out the election petitions by Parti Warisan Sabah ( Warisan) to quash the results of the 14th general election for the two seats.

Judge Azhahari Kamal Ramli said the decision was made after studying the affidavit and written submissions filed by all parties.

The petition for the Sungai Sibuga state seat was filed by Asmara Abdul Rahman, who was Warisan candidate for the seat in the general election held in May.

He named former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman as the first respondent, while the returning officer for the Sungai Sibuga state seat and the Election Commission (EC) as the second and third respondent, respectively.

For the Libaran parliamentary seat, the petition was filed by Irwanshah Mustapa, who was the Warisan candidate, and he named Libaran Member of Parliament Zakaria Mohd Edris, the returning officer for the state constituency and the EC, as the first, second and third respondent, respectively.

Asmara and Irwanshah filed their petitions on June 18 seeking the court to declare the victory obtained by Musa and Zakaria as void, alleging that the seats were won through corruption.

Azhahari struck out the petition on grounds that the petitioners had failed to comply with Rule 3(1) and (3) by depositing only two copies of the petitions, whereas the requirement was for three copies.

He said the petitioners had also failed to comply with Section 38(1)(a) of the Election Offences Act 1954 which required that petitions on the grounds of corruption, especially involving payment of money, to be filed within 28 days from the date of such payment.

Azhahari also ordered the petitioners to pay costs of RM30,000 to the first respondent, and RM10,000 each to the second and third respondents.

Musa was represented by lawyers Jeyan Marimuttu, Rizwandean M Borhan, Mohd Reduan Aklee and Mohd Azhier Farhan Arisin, while Zakaria was represented by lawyer Abdul Fikry Jaafar.

Asmara and Irwanshah were represented by lawyers Majnah Abdillah and Zaleha Mohd Yusuf Pan. — Bernama