UMNO has withdrawn its suits against nine MPs who defected to Bersatu, said party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, citing the fact that both parties are now partners in the Perikatan Nasional coalition, Free Malaysia Today reported.

“We have now become political partners,” the news portal quoted him as saying today. 

“I have instructed our lawyer to drop the suits,” he said outside a courtroom for his corruption trial.

The party last year took legal action against former members who had won their parliamentary seats on the party ticket in the 2018 general election but crossed over to Bersatu when it was part of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition led by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The MPs were Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (Masjid Tanah), Noor Azmi Ghazali (Bagan Serai), Shahbudin Yahaya (Tasek Gelugor), Rosol Wahid (Hulu Terengganu), Mohd Fasiah Mohd Fakeh (Sabak Bernam), Abdul Latiff Ahmad (Mersing), Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz (Tanah Merah), Hamzah Zainuddin (Larut) and Mustapa Mohamed (Jeli).

Umno and Barisan Nasional sued the nine MPs for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, legitimate expectations and breach of trust, and had sought RM200,000 in damages from each of them.

Constitutional experts, however, had said such suits were likely to fail due a 30-year-old legal precedent set by a 1992 case in which the Federal Court had ruled against PAS, which had filed a suit against a party member for crossing over to Umno.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is working with Umno and PAS in Perikatan Nasional, the ruling coalition formed after he took the party out of PH in late February. He commands the support of a slim majority in Parliament thanks to his new allies.

In the new Perikatan Nasional government formed on March 1, Mustapa was appointed a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department; Hamzah the home minister; and, Latiff the rural development minister.

Ikmal, Muslimin, Noor Azmi, Rosol, Mas Ermieyati and Shahbudin were appointed deputy ministers. – July 14, 2020.