KOTA KINABALU – Warisan is expected to make known its next move to compel party defector Hassan A. Gani Pg Amir to vacate his Sebatik state seat after his pre-signed resignation letter was deemed ineffective by the Sabah speaker.
Party secretary-general Datuk Loretto Padua said the party is waiting for a decision on the matter from president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
Earlier today, Sabah Speaker Datuk Kadzim M. Yahya had rendered the pre-signed letter “ineffective”.
The letter on his resignation as state assemblyman was preemptively signed by Hassan prior to him running in the state election under the Warisan banner last September.
Padua had submitted the letter to Kadzim’s office yesterday in the wake of Hassan announcing his crossover from Warisan to become an independent rep backing the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state government.
Padua today said the party’s top leaders will now have to give instruction on the next course of action.
“I will have to wait for party president Shafie to decide on the matter,” he said.
On Monday, Shafie had said that the party may launch a legal challenge if the pre-signed letter and an pre-election oath on the same matter recorded on video by Hassan do not see him being removed as assemblyman after his defection.
Aside from the Sabah speaker’s office, copies of the letters by Hassan ahead of the election on September 26 last year have also been sent to the offices of the state governor and Election Commission (EC).
While the speaker has already rendered the resignation letter ineffective, Padua said there is no need to wait for responses from the head of state or the EC.
At a press conference this morning, Kadzim had reasoned that a pre-signed letter that is backdated is considered void and invalid, according to present laws.
He said the relevant assemblyman must hand in the resignation letter personally if he wishes to resign, in accordance with the Sabah constitution.
To this end, Kadzim said he had accepted Hassan’s separate letter informing him that he had departed from Warisan and is now an independent assemblyman supportive of the GRS government. – The Vibes, March 3, 2021
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