By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Oct 29: Ba’kelalan incumbent Baru Bian has failed in his bid to strike out a lawsuit filed by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), which is seeking RM10 million in damages for allegedly breaching a bond after leaving the party following his victory in the 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018.
High Court judge Roslan Mat Nor dismissed Baru’s application to strike out the suit and challenge the jurisdiction of the High Court of Malaya to hear and determine PKR’s claim.
The court also ordered Baru, 68, a former Selangau MP, to pay RM4,000 in costs to PKR.
In his application, Baru argued that the High Court of Malaya lacked jurisdiction because he had signed the bond in Kuching on April 25, 2018, and his involvement with PKR was confined to Sarawak.
“The plaintiff’s (PKR) action against me, even if proven, did not arise in Peninsular Malaysia. The claim arose in Sarawak,” he said in his application in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 28.
Baru is among 16 former MPs and state assemblymen sued by PKR secretary-general Datuk Dr Fuziah Salleh on behalf of the party over alleged breaches of a RM10 million bond signed by each defendant.
The other defendants are Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar, Datuk Mansor Othman, Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah, Datuk Seri R. Santhara Kumar, Abdul Yunus Jamhari, Datuk Azman Nasrudin, Dr Afif Bahardin, Chong Fat Full, Daroyah Alwi, Haniza Mohamed Talha, Muhammad Hilman Idham, Muhammad Jailani Khamis, Robert Ling Kui Ee and Zulkifli Ibrahim.
In separate suits filed on Feb 19 and 27, PKR claimed that the bond required each defendant to pay RM10 million within seven days of certain events, including resigning from the party, joining another political party or becoming an independent elected representative.
According to PKR’s statement of claim, the party had nominated the defendants to contest in GE14, after which they won various parliamentary and state assembly seats, contributing to the formation of the federal government and several state governments.
However, PKR alleged that on Feb 24, 2020, the defendants ceased to be party members after being elected under its banner and expressed support for political coalitions other than PKR.
The party said it decided on March 11, 2020, to terminate the membership of each defendant with immediate effect.
Certificates dated March 16, 2020, were subsequently issued to confirm the termination of their memberships and demand payment of the RM10 million bond from each defendant.
PKR claimed that the defendants had failed to comply with the payment demands. — Bernama
