This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 21, 2019

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has allowed the Election Commission (EC) and the returning officer for the Rantau constituency for the 14th general election (GE14) to strike out a RM7.6 million misfeasance suit filed against them by the PKR candidate, Dr S Streram.

A three-member appellate court bench led by Justice Datuk Ahmadi Asnawi granted the appeal by the EC and the returning officer, Amino Agus Suyub, to strike out the suit on the grounds that Amino is not a public officer.

“The court ruled that Amino is not a public officer and allowed the striking out by the EC and Amino,” the appellate court said.

The decision was confirmed by Streram’s lawyer Sreekant Pillai to The Edge.

The bench, which includes Justices Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil and Datuk Suraya Othman, ordered that Streram pay RM10,000 in costs.

According to Sreekant, the court adopted the grounds of the case by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Citizens Declaration coordinator Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan against former premier Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, where the court subsequently ruled that Najib was not a public officer.

 Yesterday’s decision will not affect the Rantau by-election, for which the nomination day and polling day had been fixed for March 30 and April 13 respectively.

This follows the decision by the Election Court in allowing the petition filed by Streram, who was denied entry to the nomination centre to submit his nomination form because he did not have the EC-issued name tag or pass. The appellate court’s decision overturned the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s dismissal of the EC and Amino’s striking out application last September.

Streram, on May 7 filed the misfeasance in public office suit against Amino and the EC because he was unable to contest in GE14.

Former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan won the Rantau seat uncontested.

Besides this, Amino, who was Rembau district officer, has a separate appeal pending in the Court of Appeal as he had been sentenced to three months’ jail for contempt of court for trying to coach a witness during the election petition hearing.