THE Federal Court has granted PKR leave to appeal against a Court of Appeal decision that reduced a RM10 million bond payable by former party vice-president Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin to just RM100,000.
A three-judge panel led by Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan allowed the application by Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, filed in his capacity as former PKR secretary-general. The appeal will also challenge the appellate court’s order for PKR to pay Zuraida RM40,000 in costs.
Leave was granted on one amended question of law:
“Whether a party (A) to a financial bond in favour of the other party (B), (a) agrees to pay a certain sum of money as liquidated damages to (B) upon the happening of a certain event; and (b) makes an admission of fact in a recital to such financial bond, that that sum of money represented the value that (A) had received from (B) — can the Court override such admission of fact and proceed to decide whether that sum constitutes reasonable compensation taking into account the peculiar nature of the relationship between the parties?”
New Strits Times reported that the appeal proper will be heard at a later date. Sitting with Nallini were Federal Court judges Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.
PKR was represented by Ranjit Singh, William Leong and Navpreet Singh, while Zuraida was represented by Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun.
The case stems from a suit filed by PKR in 2022 following Zuraida’s defection from the party in 2020. Saifuddin contended that she had signed a party bond ahead of the 2018 general election agreeing to pay RM10 million if she left the party.
In June 2023, High Court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir ruled in PKR’s favour, ordering Zuraida to pay the full amount and RM50,000 in costs. Akhtar found that she had acknowledged the party had spent more than RM10 million on her candidacy and that she had signed the bond with full understanding of its terms.
However, in December 2023, the Court of Appeal upheld the finding that Zuraida had breached the bond but reduced the compensation to RM100,000, citing its discretion to assess reasonable damages.
Zuraida has argued she signed the bond under pressure just before nomination day and without sufficient time to study its contents. She described it as a standard document imposed on all candidates.
Saifuddin, in court testimony, maintained that the bond was signed voluntarily and without coercion. - June 24, 2025
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