JOHOR BAHRU – Former PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli and former party vice-president Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad are allegedly still bound by the party’s RM10 million bond, despite announcing the vacation of their parliamentary seats before leaving the party.
PKR secretary-general Datuk Fuziah Salleh said there is evidence showing that the Members of Parliament for Pandan and Setiawangsa had joined Parti Bersama Malaysia earlier, on May 17.
She said this could be considered as defecting from the party (party-hopping) first before the seats were vacated on May 18, thereby keeping the terms of the party bond in effect.
"They claim that the Anti-Party Hopping Act does not apply. However, I have evidence showing they had already joined Parti Bersama Malaysia on the party's website, with a timestamp of May 17.
"According to the party's constitution, they had already defected on May 17, before they vacated their seats today," she said.
Fuziah, who is also the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Deputy Minister said this during a press conference at the National Consumer Policy Advocacy Programme 2.0 and Consumer Talk here on Monday.
She explained that the matter is still being reviewed by PKR’s legal team before any legal action is decided upon.
"Our legal advisors are advising us. We will discuss this in the Political Bureau meeting tomorrow. We will deliberate on whatever action that needs to be taken," she added.
On Sunday, Rafizi who is former economy minister Rafizi and Nik Nazmi who is former natural resources and environmental sustainability minister announced their departure from PKR, claiming they were not bound by the party's RM10 million bond.
Rafizi explained that this was because they took the step to vacate their Pandan and Setiawangsa parliamentary seats respectively first before leaving the party.