PUTRAJAYA (Nov 27): The Federal Court on Thursday has fixed Dec 11 to hear an application by former Ampang member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin, to review an earlier decision by the apex court in June that had allowed former PKR secretary general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to challenge the reduction in the party’s bond payment requirement on Zuraida from RM10 million down to RM100,000.
The date was fixed following Zuraida’s motion to seek a review to set-aside the June 24 decision that had granted leave (permission) for Saifuddin, and PKR’s appeal to be heard on its merits.
She is also seeking for the December apex bench to rehear Saifuddin’s motion for leave to appeal, that had been made by the three-member apex court bench in June.
Saifuddin’s counsel Navpreet Singh, and Zuraida’s counsel Mohd Nizam Abdul Hamid, separately confirmed the Dec 11 date, following case management of the matter on Wednesday (Nov 26) and Thursday.
On June 24, a three-member Federal Court panel led by Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan had allowed Saifuddin’s leave to appeal against the reduced bond payment, as well as the Court of Appeal’s (COA) order to pay Zuraida costs of RM40,000.
Out of the five questions of law, the bench only allowed the appeal to be heard on one question, which was also amended by the bench.
The question reads: “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 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?”
The bench amended the question after the word “compensation”, adding the following: “taking into account the peculiar nature of the relationship between the parties?”
In short, the question asks whether, in a financial bond case, if one party agrees to pay a set amount as damages and admits that that amount reflects what they received, can the court still decide if the amount is fair — especially considering the unique relationship between the parties.
This case concerns Zuraida being one of 10 former PKR MPs who had defected from the party, resulting in the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government in 2020. Saifuddin had filed the suit on behalf of PKR, claiming she had breached the bond she had signed to contest in Ampang.
The terms of the bond, among others, required her to pay RM10 million if she left the party, joined another, or became an independent after winning an election on a PKR ticket.
In June 2023, the High Court had ruled in favour of PKR and ordered Zuraida to pay the RM10 million, with the court finding the bond to be valid and enforceable.
In December last year, the COA agreed that Zuraida had breached the bond, but had reduced the payment from RM10 million to RM100,000, saying RM10 million was not reasonable. This led PKR to seek permission to appeal.
In civil cases at the apex court, leave (permission) has to be gained first before the merits of the appeal are heard.
Should Zuraida fail in the review, PKR’s appeal is scheduled to be heard on Feb 13, 2026, Navpreet added.