Court dismisses graft charges against Malaysian Indian MP
August 5th, 2010 - 4:12 pm ICT by IANSKuala Lumpur, Aug 5 (IANS) Malaysian Indian lawmaker P. Kamalanathan Thursday retained his parliamentary seat as a court dismissed allegations of corruption and electoral malpractice made by the losing candidate.
The High Court struck out former law minister Zaid Ibrahim’s charges made in an election petition against P. Kamalanathan, who had won the Hulu Selangor seat earlier this year in a keenly contested by-election.
Kamalanathan had won the contest for the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), the country’s largest Indian-based party and a constituent of the ruling alliance, Barisan Nasional (BN).
Justice Azahar Mohamed said Ibrahim, the opposition candidate, had failed to identify the recipients of the alleged bribes offered by BN, making the petition “fundamentally defective”, Star Online, website of The Star reported.
Ibrahim had named Kamalanathan, Hulu Selangor parliamentary constituency returning officer Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan and the Election Commission as respondents in his petition to nullify the results of the by-election held April 25.
Hand-picked by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for the election, Kamalanathan defeated Zaid by a 1,725-vote margin.
Kamalanathan said: “I will continue to do my work as an elected MP and be better focussed on my work.”
- Ethnic Indian wins key Malaysian by-poll - Apr 25, 2010
- Loser to challenge Malaysian Indian's poll victory - Apr 28, 2010
- Indian party nominee to contest Malaysian by-poll - Apr 15, 2010
- Another Indian joins Malaysian by-poll fray - Apr 17, 2010
- Must win by-poll, Malaysian PM tells Indian party - Apr 16, 2010
- Straight fight in Malaysian by-poll: Najib to campaign - Apr 20, 2010
- Malaysian Indian Congress to contest by-election for Hulu Selangor seat - Apr 08, 2010
- Malaysian Indian Congress chief 'under pressure to quit' - May 07, 2010
- Malaysian PM opts for Indian party's nominee in by-poll - Apr 08, 2010
- Speculations over MIC candidate for Hulu Selangor by-election - Apr 10, 2010
- MIC banking on Malay Indian vote to win Hulu Selangor poll - Apr 15, 2010
- Indian party wants to contest Malaysian by-election - Apr 06, 2010
- Malaysian Indian Congress hoping to recapture parliament seat (Lead) - Apr 11, 2010
- Early parliamentary polls likely in Malaysia - Nov 18, 2010
- Malaysian Indian Congress in by-poll campaign mode - Apr 11, 2010
Tags: ahmad dahlan, azahar, bn, bribes, election commission, election petition, graft charges, hisham, hulu, kuala lumpur, law minister, lawmaker, malaysian indian congress, mohamed, opposition candidate, parliamentary constituency, parliamentary seat, returning officer, vote margin, zaid