PUTRAJAYA (April 7): The Federal Court on Tuesday rejected former Ampang member of Parliament Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin’s attempt to review an earlier decision that allowed Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and its former secretary general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to challenge a Court of Appeal ruling, which had reduced her bond from RM10 million to RM100,000.
The three-member bench led by Federal Court judge Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang ruled that the apex bench would only grant a review if there are special and exceptional circumstances and to prevent injustice.
Rhodzariah, who sat with judges Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, said in the unanimous decision that the earlier bench’s decision to amend the draft question is merely to assist the apex court to determine the question at hand before listening to the merits of the appeal.
“To our mind, the said amendment of the question is meant to seek a resolution of the appeal proper to future cases based on the factual matrix of the case.
“By refining the original question, it therefore did not alter much the question posed before the apex bench at hand and does not amount to an exercise of excess jurisdiction in the matter,” Rhodzariah said in dismissing the review.
The bench ordered Zuraida to pay RM50,000 costs.
Previous bench exercised excess jurisdiction, Zuraida argued
Zuraida, through her lawyer Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun, sought a review of the June 24 Federal Court decision led by Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan, claiming the court had overstepped its authority when it granted leave on a solitary question of law that was amended by the bench.
Azhar said the court had rejected 11 other questions and only allowed one, which was amended to cover an issue that never came up in the High Court or Court of Appeal cases.
Azhar of Messrs Azhar & Goh told the court that the single question did not meet the legal requirements under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 for PKR’s appeal to be heard on its merits, so a review was warranted.
The question allowed to be argued on the full merits or in the substantive appeal is: Whether a party (A) to a financial bond agrees to pay a certain sum of money as liquidated damages to (B) upon the happening of a certain event, and admits in a recital to such a financial bond that the sum of money represented the value that (A) had received from (B), can have 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.
Past practices allow for the amendment of question
Saifuddin’s lawyer, Ranjit Singh of Messrs Ranjit & Yeoh, said the previous Federal Court bench had the right to amend the question, which is a common practice followed in the past.
Ranjit added that the Federal Court is allowed to amend the question to reflect the unique nature of the contract bond, rather than treating it as a regular document.
“Furthermore, the applicant’s move for a review is not the way to go in the challenge as she (Zuraida) can still argue when the substantive merits are being heard.
“Normally, a review is with regards to a quorum (bench) failure or other matters. Amending the question and claiming it to be in excess of jurisdiction is certainly not the way for review. Panels have heard (in amending) the questions for leave many times,” he added.
Ranjit appeared with Navpreet Singh in the matter. With Tuesday’s decision, the apex court will fix a hearing date to hear the merits of PKR and Saifuddin’s appeal.
On June 24 last year, Nallini, with judges Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, allowed PKR and Saifuddin to challenge a Court of Appeal decision that reduced Zuraida’s bond from RM10 million to RM100,000 on a single question of law.
On Dec 11, 2024, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s ruling that Zuraida had breached her PKR bond but lowered the payment from RM10 million to RM100,000.
Saifuddin, then PKR’s secretary general, filed the 2020 suit claiming Zuraida broke the bond she signed before the 2018 general election by leaving the party that year.
Besides this suit, PKR in February this year filed lawsuits against six of its former MPs and 10 assemblyperson for violating the party’s bond.