Party agreed to delay Zuraida’s disciplinary hearing to Feb 25, claims aide

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 ― PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin gave a “verbal” agreement for her disciplinary board hearing to be held later this month, according to her political secretary Nor Hizwan Ahmad.

Yesterday, board chairman Datuk Ahmad Kasim said the panel had rejected Zuraida’s request for her disciplinary hearing be suspended, with the PKR leader given until February 20 to attend it.

But Nor Hizwan argued that Zuraida had agreed to attend the hearing on February 25, Malaysiakini reported today.

"Zuraida has spoken to a staff member of the disciplinary board and agreed on February 25 as a date for the meeting," he was quoted as saying.

Nor Hizwan also defended Zuraida’s decision to attend the hearing at a later date.

He said the housing and local government minister had committed to a number of events and programmes in her role as housing and local government minister, and that any delay would have a significant impact in terms of coordination as well as finance.

But yesterday, the same portal reported Ahmad Kasim as being adamant that Zuraida show up for the hearing on February 20. The board argued that the date already takes into consideration her duties as a government minister.

Ahmad also reportedly said that Zuraida had requested a suspension of the hearing due to the legal notices issued to her by PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s political secretary’s Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak.

Last week, Zuraida had sought Anwar’s permission to grant her leave from her position as party vice-president until the disciplinary board had decided her case.

Zuraide was handed a show-cause letter on January 18 over several alleged disciplinary violations, among them a speech she delivered on December 8 where she accused Anwar of attempting to coax her into going against Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, the party’s deputy president.

She claimed the PKR president had tried to convince her that the sex video allegedly involving Azmin was “real”.