Not Bersatu's practice to pay its bureau chiefs, says Muhyiddin's ex-officer
Marzuki Mohamad, the former principal private secretary to party president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, testified that no payments were made to prominent lawyer Haniff, who headed the legal and constitutional bureau during the party's early years as it was the practice, reported FMT.
Marzuki, now a university lecturer, was quoted as saying that,"Two other lawyers also offered their services voluntarily. It was standard practice not to offer remuneration."
He was testifying in a 2021 suit filed by Haniff to claim RM12.5 million in legal fees from Bersatu.
Apart from Marzuki, Haniff had named Muhyiddin, deputy president Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin and treasurer Mohamed Salleh Bajuri as co-defendants.
Haniff claimed he received no response on the multiple invoices he had issued between January and March 2021 while Bersatu, in their defence, claimed that Haniff's services from 2016 to 2020 were offered pro-bono.
Questioned by Haniff's lawyer Nizamuddin Hamid on whether he knew Haniff was never a party member, Marzuki said he had never asked.
On Haniff's invoices and reminders, Marzuki said he had not seen them and that he had learned of Haniff's lawsuit via media reports.
Judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir set Aug 25 to deliver his decision after Bersatu lawyer Chetan Jethwani said the defence had closed its case.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Bangladeshi loses bid to reclaim RM723k seized in Immigration raid
SHAH ALAM: The High Court has dismissed a criminal revision application filed by a Bangladeshi national challenging a Sessions Court's decision to forfeit RM723,000 in cash seized during an Immigration raid earlier this year. Judicial commissioner Dr Hazlina Hussain ruled that there was no procedural error by the Sessions Court judge to justify intervention by the higher court. According to the court document, Salman Ahmad Chowdhury as applicant had pleaded guilty to breaching the conditions of his temporary employment visit pass by working at an unauthorised premises in Ampang. Salman was fined RM400 and ordered to be deported. He did not appeal the order before his deportation. During the raid on Jan 17, enforcement officers from the Immigration Department found Salman in possession of multiple foreign passports and large sums of money kept in a safe deposit box. Following Salman's guilty plea, the lower court also ordered the forfeiture of RM723,000 to the government. His former employer, Agensi Pekerjaan Insight Alliance Sdn Bhd (the agent), was also fined RM10,000 for hiring an undocumented migrant and did not appeal the conviction. However, on May 6, Salman and the agent applied to High Court to exercise its revisionary power to revise the learned lower court's decision on an order to forfeit the monies. Lawyers Mohd Haziq Razali and Nur Khairunnisa Sabirah Abdul Manan submitted that was no nexus between the cash and the immigration offence. However, the judge disagreed. "To the court, if the counsel's argument had any merit, it was quite perplexing as to who now owns the cash if the forfeiture order by the Sessions Court was wrong. "There is indeed a nexus between Salman and the disputed money, based on the police report. "Furthermore, Salman admitted to all the exhibits tendered before the trial judge. "By denying the forfeiture order, as counsel did, they were also questioning the guilty plea Salman had made before the lower court, which the court thought devoid of merit," she said in her grounds of judgment. Salman and the agent filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Court dismisses ex-AG officer's appeal in lawsuit against Rewcastle-Brown
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal by Mabel Sheela Mutthiah, former special officer to ex-Attorney General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, in her defamation lawsuit against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown. The case involved three articles, including one titled 'How AG's Office Connived to Prevent a Second Post-mortem on Kevin Morais – Exclusive Expose.' A three-judge panel, led by Justice Datuk Azizah Nawawi, unanimously ruled that Mabel failed to comply with legal requirements by not providing a Malay translation of the allegedly defamatory article. Justice Azizah stated, 'In this case, there was no Bahasa Melayu translation of the impugned defamatory article, and that was clearly a non-compliance with Order 92. We find there is no appealable error by the High Court. The appeal is therefore dismissed with costs of RM10,000.' The High Court had earlier rejected Mabel's suit on May 2, 2024, citing the same reason and ordering her to pay RM15,000 in costs. Judge Datuk Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin Shah emphasized the legal necessity of Malay-language pleadings under Article 152 of the Federal Constitution and the National Language Act 1963/67. Mabel had sued Rewcastle-Brown in 2019 over articles connecting her to alleged text messages sent to the family of Kevin Morais, a murder victim in 2015. She sought damages and the removal of the articles from Sarawak Report's website. - Bernama
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Court dismisses appeal from ex-AG's special officer in lawsuit against Rewcastle-Brown
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Mabel Sheela Mutthiah, the special officer to former attorney general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, against the High Court's decision to dismiss her legal suit against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown. The suit is related to three articles published in Sarawak Report, including one titled How AG's Office Connived to Prevent a Second Post-mortem on Kevin Morais - Exclusive Expose . A three-member bench chaired by Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi, in a unanimous decision, said that they were bound by this court's (another Court of Appeal) ruling that the plaintiff (Mabel) must provide a Malay-language translation of the impugned defamatory article. "In this case, there was no Malay translation of the impugned defamatory article, and that was clearly a non-compliance with Order 92. We find there is no appealable error by the High Court. The appeal is therefore dismissed with costs of RM10,000," Justice Azizah said. The other judges on the bench are Justices Datuk Azizul Azmi Adnan and Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin. On May 2, 2024, Judge Datuk Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin Shah Raja Mohzan rejected the suit with costs of RM15,000, after finding that the plaintiff failed to translate the allegedly defamatory articles into the Malay language. He pointed out that the requirement for complete pleadings in the Malay language is tritely attributed to the language's supremacy as a national language. Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin said the relevant provisions are enshrined in Article 152 of the Federal Constitution as well as Section 8 of the National Language Act 1963/67 and Order 92 Rule 1 of the Rules of Court 2012. Mabel filed the suit against Rewcastle-Brown in 2019 over articles linking her to alleged text messages sent to the family of Morais, who was murdered in September 2015. She denied the allegations in the article and initiated the lawsuit to seek damages from Rewcastle-Brown, as well as a court order for the article to be removed from the Sarawak Report website. – Bernama
