PKR disciplinary board gives Zuraida until Feb 20 to attend hearing

PKR disciplinary board chairperson Ahmad Kasim has rejected a letter from vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin requesting a suspension of the hearing against her.

However, he said in a statement today, the board has given her until Feb 20 to attend the disciplinary hearing, in view of her duties as housing and local government minister.

According to Ahmad, the reasons cited by Zuraida requesting the postponement are due to legal notices from PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Perak PKR chief Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak.

"This is supposedly because the legal notices have the same content as the show-cause letter issued by the disciplinary board," he said.

Ahmad added that there was a clear distinction between the two processes because as many as three disciplinary charges have been filed against Zuraida while there was only a single civil suit.

"The last disciplinary board meeting did take note of this issue but as these cases were civil cases rather than criminal cases, it decided that the hearing for Zuraida's case would be continued.

Last week, Zuraida's political secretary Nor Hizwan Ahmad said she had submitted a letter to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim seeking leave from her position as PKR vice-president until the party's disciplinary board concludes its deliberations on her case. 

On Jan 18, Zuraida was issued with a show-cause letter and was given 14 days to respond.

The letter had mentioned several issues, including her speech on Dec 8 at a dinner organised following a walkout after PKR's heated national congress.

In her speech, Zuraida had alleged that Anwar tried to convince her that a sex video allegedly featuring his estranged deputy Azmin Ali was genuine.

She also claimed Anwar told her that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad wanted to sack Azmin from his position as economic affairs minister.

At the time, the Ampang MP said she also did not fear being dismissed from the party for her statements made against Anwar, Saifuddin and several other leaders.