PKR allowed to appeal reduction of Zuraida's bond from RM10mil to RM100k

New Straits Times

4 days ago

PUTRAJAYA: PKR has been granted leave to appeal against a Court of Appeal decision that reduced a bond payment from RM10 million to RM100,000, to be paid by former vice-president Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin.
A three-member Federal Court panel chaired by Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan allowed the motion by Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail for leave to appeal against the bond payment and the appellate court's order for PKR to pay Zuraida RM40,000 in costs.
PKR was granted leave to appeal on one question of law, with amendments made by the judges during the hearing today, for the Federal Court to determine.
The amended 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 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?"
With the leave granted, PKR will proceed to the next stage, which is the appeal proper, to be heard on a future date.
Nallini sat with judges Datuk Nordin Hassan and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.
During proceedings today, PKR was represented by lawyers Ranjit Singh, William Leong and Navpreet Singh.
Lawyer Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun acted for Zuraida.
In December last year, a three-member Court of Appeal panel led by Datuk See Mee Chun unanimously upheld the Kuala Lumpur High Court's ruling that Zuraida had breached the bond but overturned the quantum of RM10 million.
See, who sat with judges Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid, had varied the sum to RM100,000.
The panel said they could not ignore Zuraida's breach of bond and that she was not absolved from any liability.
The panel also ordered PKR to pay RM40,000 to Zuraida for the costs of the appeal.
The suit was filed by Saifuddin on Sept 28, 2022 in his capacity as the then PKR secretary-general.
Saifuddin said Zuraida, who quit PKR in 2020, had executed a bond that bound her to pay the party the sum in accordance with the set terms and conditions, including paying a sum of RM10 million for quitting the party.
In June 2023, High Court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir allowed PKR's suit against Zuraida, and ordered her to pay RM10 million as well as RM50,000 in cost to PKR.
Akhtar, in his judgment, said Zuraida herself had acknowledged that PKR had spent an amount exceeding RM10 million on her candidacy during the election.
He said this meant it was a clear admission on Zuraida's part that she could not retract, and that she had signed the bond with full knowledge of its contents. It was aimed at deterring the party's candidates from acting against its interest before or after an election.
Zuraida, who later filed an appeal, has claimed that she was forced to sign the bond with the party to become its candidate in the 14th General Election in 2018.
She said she received the document from the party's leadership a day before nomination day and did not have ample time to read the entire content, describing it as unilaterally prepared and that all candidates were compelled to sign it.