KUALA LUMPUR – A lawyer’s claim that Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali was unrepresented during the case management of a suit filed by 10 Gombak voters against him for alleged deceit and breach of fiduciary duty was completely untrue, said his lawyer.
Nizamuddin Hamid, representing the senior minister and international trade and industry minister, denied the statement made by N. Yohendra, who represents the 10 Gombak voters, which said that the suit had been served on Azmin on December 1.
“The suit was served to a person at Azmin’s service centre. It was bad service and in blatant contravention of the rules of court.
“A writ of summons must be served according to the procedure set out in the rules of court. This is common practice, and we are shocked that he saw fit to announce that the suit had been served on Azmin on December 1,” said Nizamuddin from law firm Messrs Zharif Nizamuddin in a statement here today.
He said there had not been any effort to personally serve the suit to Azmin at his home or office at the International Trade and Industry Ministry.
Nizamuddin said the lawyer for the plaintiffs also did not write to his client seeking an appointment to effect service.
“Azmin respects the judicial system, and in the event that the plaintiffs had served the suit by the applicable procedure provided under the law, he would have appeared promptly.
“Regrettably, they chose to make such comments to a news portal in a matter ongoing in court,” he said.
The news portal reported that the Gombak MP was not represented by any lawyer during the case management before Kuala Lumpur High Court deputy registrar Maslinda Selamat on December 28, which was conducted online.
Yohendra, as quoted by the news portal, said that he would file for a judgment in default should no counsel come to represent Azmin on the next case management on January 14.
The 10 registered voters in the Gombak parliamentary constituency had filed the suit on November 27 against Azmin for alleged deceit and breach of fiduciary duty through the “Sheraton Move” that caused the Pakatan Harapan government to fall in February.
In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs, aged between 36 and 64, are seeking, among others, a declaration that Azmin, as the Gombak MP, had breached his fiduciary obligations, deceived them during the elections in the constituency, and breached representation owed to them. – Bernama, December 30, 2020
