KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hj Mohd Shafie Hj Apdal has applied to strike out a lawsuit by his predecessor, Tan Sri Musa Aman on the grounds that the latter had no reasonable grounds to challenge his appointment as Chief Minister on May 12.
Shafie said the suit by Musa was “scandalous, frivolous and vexatious” and an abuse of the court process.
He is the second defendant named by Musa in his May 17 suit against the Yang DiPertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.
Shafie’s application was filed on Monday through his lawyers Messrs Lind Willie Wong & Chin.
In his affidavit supporting his application to strike out the suit filed by Musa, the Parti Warisan Sabah president said that it was undisputable that he was the rightful “Chief Minister of Sabah” as his party and their partners PKR, DAP and Upko had a clear majority of 35 assemblymen against Sabah Barisan Nasional and Sabah STAR’s 25 assemblymen in the 60-member state assembly.
Shafie said that he was duly sworn in by the TYT under Article 6(3) of the Sabah Constitution that allows the TYT to appoint the Chief Minister based on his judgement that such a person was likely to command the majority.
He said the TYT had also acted in accordance to Article 7 (1) of the State Constitution as Musa, who was sworn in May 10, had already lost his majority in the assembly.
Shafie contended that in line with the spirit of the article, Musa did not seek for the dissolution of the legislative assembly to pave way for a fresh election, and that Musa should have resigned with his cabinet.
Shafie in his application, said that the issue was based on the case authority of Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin (of PAS) Vs Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir (Barisan) in the Perak case in which the courts ruled that Nizar had been deemed to have resigned and vacated his office of the Menteri Besar even without submitting his resignation.
In his affidavit, Shafie also raised the question on whether the swearing-in of Musa on May 10 was done under duress in view of the police report made by the TYT against Musa for criminal intimidation.
Shafie also said that some of the Upko assemblymen had claimed that they were kept against their will at the Chief Minister’s official residence Seri Gaya and were allegedly forced to make media statements in support of Musa.
To date, Shafie has not been served with a summons from the plaintiff.-pr/BNN
