Former Langkawi Umno member Anina Saadudin today filed a legal suit against the Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan and executive secretary Ab Rauf Yusoh.
This followed Anina's automatic expulsion from the party after she filed a law suit against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also Umno president, over the RM2.6 billion issue.
In a statement today, Anina said she is seeking two reliefs in her latest suit.
The first relief is for a declaration that the two letters issued by Tengku Adnan announcing her automatic expulsion to be invalid, void and have no effect on her Umno membership.
The second relief is for an order that her expulsion from Umno is invalid and void.
"I hope my suit will be able to inspire change in how Umno is managed as a party for Malays and not as a party for individuals holding high power.
"Umno members should be respected as they are the backbone of the party," she said.
On Aug 28, Anina filed a suit against Najib after Sarawak Report claimed that US$650 million of the US$681 million deposited into Najib's personal accounts was remitted overseas.
Najib denied using public funds for personal gain. The sum has been described as political donation.
This prompted Anina's suit on grounds that the money belonged to the party.
Subsequently, two letters, dated Sept 1 and Sept 2, were circulated on the social media announcing Anina's automatic expulsion from Umno as the party constitution disallows members from taking party matters to court.
On Sept 3, Anina wrote to Tengku Adnan, issuing an ultimatum to him to retract her expulsion.
However, Tengku Adnan did not respond, prompting the latest suit.
Prior to filing the legal suit, Anina landed in the spotlight after a recording of her speech at the Langkawi Umno division annual delegates' meeting went viral on social media.
In her speech, she had accused Najib of cheating Umno's three million members.
Expulsion goes against Umno, Federal Constitution
In her statement of claim, sighted by Malaysiakini this afternoon, Anina claims her expulsion from the party via Tengku Adnan's letters and based on the facts of the case, was invalid and against the party constitution and the Federal Constitution.
She said Tengku Adnan has no power to issue the expulsion letter, as such power lay with the Umno disciplinary board and that his action of furnishing the letter to the media before she was issued with it was also defective and illegal.
Anina ( photo ) said while one expulsion letter was dated Sept 2, her suit was only served to Najib and Ab Rauf on Sept 3.
Umno legal adviser Mohd Hafarizam Harun had stated that upon receiving the suit , Anina's membership of the party automatically ended.
The Langkawi Wanita Umno member said her expulsion by Tengku Adnan is also defective and went against the rules of natural justice. The issuance of the two expulsion letters were an afterthought and done with male fide (bad intention) and hence illegal under the law.
Her expulsion also violated her constitutional right to Liberty of a Person under Article 5 of the Federal Constitution, equality of a person before the law under Article 8 and also violated Article 10 (1) (a) on her freedom of speech and expression.
Hence, Anina claimed, the issuance of the expulsion letter has no effect on her membership in Umno, under the party constitution and existing laws as well.
She claimed that her expulsion under Article 20.7 of the party constitution is invalid as she had raised the matter at the Langkawi Wanita Umno meeting and also with the party disciplinary board before filing the suit.
Anina said she had followed all the requirements and that until the filing of her suit, there had been no feedback from the disciplinary board on action it would take against Najib following the complaint she had lodged.
For these reasons, she added, she is entitled to file the original civil suit aganist Najib and Ab Rauf.
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