PKR files RM60mil suit against 6 MPs for breaching bond

2026-03-06 - 11:23

The six MPs who left PKR in the Sheraton Move are (top row, from left) Baru Bian, Kamarudin Jaffar and Mansor Othman, and (bottom row, from left) Rashid Hasnon, Saifuddin Abdullah and R Santhara Kumar. KUALA LUMPUR: PKR has filed a suit against six of its former MPs who were among those responsible for the collapse of the 22-month Pakatan Harapan federal government in 2020 following the Sheraton Move. PKR secretary-general Fuziah Salleh, bringing the suit on behalf of the party, named the six as Baru Bian (Selangau), Kamarudin Jaffar (Bandar Tun Razak), Mansor Othman (Nibong Tebal), Rashid Hasnon (Batu Pahat), Saifuddin Abdullah (Indera Mahkota) and R Santhara Kumar. The party has also filed a similar suit against 10 assemblymen who left in 2020. In two separate statements of claim, Fuziah said the party is claiming RM10 million each from the defendants for breaching a bond they signed just before the 14th general election in 2018. The legal firm of Nav & Co filed the suits on Feb 19 at the High Court here, which has fixed March 27 for case management. Under the terms of the bond, the defendants were required to pay the amount within seven days if they won their seats on PKR’s ticket but later resigned from the party, joined another political party, or became independent elected representatives. In GE14, the party secured several parliamentary and state legislative seats and subsequently formed the federal and several state governments. Fuziah said that on or about Feb 24, 2020, it was publicly known that each of the defendants had ceased to be party members after having been elected under PKR’s banner. She said the defendants had aligned themselves with or supported a political coalition other than PH. Except for Baru, the rest supported Muhyiddin Yassin in the Sheraton Move to be appointed prime minister. Muhyiddin later headed the Perikatan Nasional federal government. The party terminated their memberships on March 11, 2020 and demanded compliance with the bond, but received no response. Fuziah said the party had spent substantial resources protecting its brand, developing human resources to promote its platform, identifying and endorsing candidates, conducting national and state campaigns, and securing electoral success at the federal and state levels. She said the resignations or realignment of the defendants after the election altered the composition of the governing majority at the federal or state level, and affected the party’s ability to carry out the mandate obtained at the election. In September 2020, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, then PKR’s secretary-general, filed a similar suit against then Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin, who also left the party in support of Muhyiddin. The Court of Appeal ordered her to pay the party RM100,000, but the party has appealed to the Federal Court to seek a higher quantum.