Saifuddin “openly accused a PKR leader of wrongdoing” five years ago before admitting the following year that he falsified documents to tarnish the reputation of the leader.
His case ended up being tried in court before he entered a settlement agreement with the leader pursuant to terms set by the latter.
What this means, is Saifuddin’s crime was more or less established.
Yet, not only did the PKR disciplinary board fail to conduct investigations, he was returned as party secretary-general and went on to become Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.
And Haziq?
He was booted from PKR on grounds that have yet to be proven or tried in the court of law merely three weeks after “openly accusing a party leader of wrongdoing.”
SUBANG JAYA: If it is dubitable, hypocritical and downright nonsensical, it has to be something coming straight out of the mouth of Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the longest ‘serving’ Prime-Minister-in-waiting the world has ever seen.
Yesterday, the PKR president claimed that the party disciplinary board was “impartial and did not side with anyone” when sacking Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz, the man who made public a video clip featuring two individuals engaged in sexual acts against the order of nature.
On the 12thof June 2019, Haziq released a confessional video in which he admitted to being one of the said individuals and claimed that the other individual was Economic Affairs Minister Dato’ Seri Azmin Ali.
In recommending Haziq’s expulsion, PKR chief whip Dato’ Ahmad Kassim claimed that the Santubong youth Chief had breached the “party’s code of ethics” by openly accusing Azmin of corruption and “other matters” without proof.
“The disciplinary board has received a response from the show cause letter sent to Haziq.
“After looking at his response letter, dated July 2, we recommended that the political bureau to expel him.
“The disciplinary board found that he went against the party’s code of ethics. Among the reasons given is that he openly accused the party leadership of corruption without giving evidence,” Ahmad told reporters after the party’s weekly political bureau meeting Wednesday (July 3) night.
Let’s take another look at what Anwar said.
According to him, Ahmad was being impartial and fair and would have done the same for any other party member found to have breached the party’s code of ethics.
Under the circumstances, should there have been another PKR member who “openly accused a party leader of corruption and other matters without proof” before Haziq did, he (or she) would surely have been expelled from the party. Correct?
Wrong.
On the 5thof August 2014, PKR secretary-general Dato’Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told a press conference that the party had put together a 40-page dossier bearing details of wrongdoings committed by a fellow party leader, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
But Khalid was no ordinary leader.
He was the Menteri Besar of Selangor and someone known to be close to the ruler of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
It was an open secret then that Anwar wanted to take over the post of Selangor Menteri Besar and planned to use the state to springboard his career towards becoming Prime Minister.
Saifuddin disclosed that the dossier bore details of questionable deals Khalid had undertaken with a public-listed company in the latter’s capacity as Menteri Besar.
“These are the things the party sought clarification from him for but did not get, and it gives rise to questions over his integrity as a public administrator,” he said.
The dossier eventually went into circulation and turned out to be a 91-page report signed by Saifuddin himself. The document bore sensitive banking details, the release of which constituted a crime under various banking and national secrecy laws.
One thing led to another before Khalid filed a defamation suit against Saifuddin and a number of other defendants seeking a written apology, damages and an injunction to restrain them from further defaming him.
One year later, Saifuddin entered a settlement agreement with Khalid, admitted that the allegations in the dossier were fake and publically apologised for tarnishing Khalid’s reputation.
The conclusion?
Saifuddin “openly accused a PKR leader of wrongdoing” five years ago before admitting that he falsified documents to tarnish the reputation of the leader.
His case ended up being tried in court before he entered a settlement agreement with the leader pursuant to terms set by the latter.
What this means, is Saifuddin’s crime was more or less established.
Yet, not only did the PKR disciplinary board fail to conduct investigations, he was returned as party secretary-general and went on to become Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.
And Haziq?
He was booted from PKR on grounds that have yet to be proven or tried in the court of law merely three weeks after “openly accusing a party leader of wrongdoing.”
RJ RITHAUDEEN
