PUTRAJAYA: Gombak Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali's appeal to strike out a lawsuit filed by 10 voters from his constituency for alleged deceit and breach of fiduciary duty as their MP will be heard by the Court of Appeal on April 13.

       Lawyer N.Yohendra, representing the voters, when contacted, said the date was fixed during the case management before senior assistant registrar Nur Adilah Halid last Monday.

       Parties in the appeal are required to file their respective written submissions by March 29.

       On June 10, last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Azmin's application to strike out the suit filed against him by the 10 registered voters in the Gombak Parliamentary constituency.

       On the same day, High Court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir also dismissed the voters’ application to strike out several paragraphs of Azmin’s statement of defence.

       The voters filed the suit against Azmin, who is International Trade and Industry Minister, on Nov 27, 2020, for alleged deceit and breach of fiduciary duty as their MP through the "Sheraton Move" that caused the Pakatan Harapan government to collapse in February the same year.

       In their statement of claim, the voters are seeking, among others, a declaration that Azmin, as the Gombak MP, had breached his fiduciary obligations, deceived them during the elections in the constituency and also breached the representation made to them.

       They sought damages including aggravated or exemplary damages, interests, costs and other orders deemed fit by the court.

       On March 12 last year, Azmin filed an application to strike out the suit citing that the suit did not disclose a reasonable cause of action and was frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of court process.

       He contended that the suit violated his fundamental right to freedom of association as provided under Article 10 Clause (1) (c) of the Federal Constitution. - Bernama