The Federal Court has scheduled a hearing for April 17th this year for the People's Justice Party (PKR) regarding their application for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision to reduce the penalty against the party's former vice-chairman Datuk Zuraida by 100 times.
PKR's representative lawyer, Navpreet Singh, confirmed to Bernama that the Deputy Registrar of the Federal Court, Husna, set the mentioned date during a case management session on Monday.
He stated that all involved parties have been instructed to submit their written submissions by April 2nd at the latest, and another round of case management will take place on the 7th of the same month to report progress to the court.
PKR filed the appeal on January 8th this year, seeking to reinstate the High Court's order for Zuraida to pay RM10 million in penalty.
On December 11th last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's decision that Zuraida violated the undertaking set by the party but reduced the penalty from RM10 million to RM100,000.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled on June 23rd, 2023, in favor of PKR, ordering Zuraida, also a former Ampang Member of Parliament, to pay RM10 million to the party.
Judge Datuk Adha believed that the undertaking signed between both parties was a valid and binding agreement.
Former PKR Secretary-General Datuk Seri Saifuddin filed the lawsuit on behalf of the party in 2020, alleging that Zuraida had breached the undertaking she had signed.
According to the terms of the undertaking, PKR candidates contesting under the party's banner and later leaving the party, joining other factions, or becoming independent members, must compensate the party RM10 million within 7 days at the latest.
In her defense, Zuraida stated she was compelled to sign the undertaking with the party to contest in the 14th General Election as a candidate.