Expulsion of 16 Umno members done according to the law: Zahid

(Bernama) – The move to expel 16 Umno members from five states for filing a judicial review to dissolve Umno at the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday was in accordance with the resolution in the Umno constitution and regulations.

Umno vice-president, who is discharging the duty of party deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said this was because any Umno member who filed a court application or action, would automatically lose their membership.

“(Under) the Umno Constitution, Umno members cannot take any issue concerning the party to the court and if it is taken to court, the members concerned will automatically be expelled from Umno.

“We also suspect that the action of the Umno members was masterminded by the opposition. However, a detailed study must be carried out to obtain its validity,” he told reporters after launching the new GiatMara Building in Hutan Melintang, here today.

Yesterday, 16 Umno members took legal action to challenge the validity of Umno as a political party for postponing the party election.

Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the action of the 16 Umno members clearly went against Clause 20.7 of the Umno Constitution, which states that any member who files a court application or action would automatically lose his or her membership.

Commenting further, Ahmad Zahid, who is also the caretaker Deputy Prime Minister, said the allegation was baseless as Umno had asked the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to postpone party elections until April 2019.

He said such action had to be taken because the RoS had issued a postponement letter for the Umno election and the directive should not have been challenged by anyone as it was an official decision.

“I believe the announcement on the candidates and the document to be made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in the name of Umno was according to the law and legally binding,” he said.