KOTA KINABALU, March 3 — Parti Warisan Sabah will take legal action to try and compel the Sabah Speaker to accept the pre-signed resignation letter of Sebatik assemblyman Hassan Gani Amir.

Warisan secretary Datuk Loretto Padua Jr said that party’s lawyers believe that the documents submitted clearly indicate Hassan agreed to resign in the event he exited the party.

“In a letter dated 10 September 2020 to his lawyers, Hassan instructed them to date and submit his resignation letter to the Speaker and the Head of State in the event that he, among others, declares himself to be independent before or after being sworn in as an assemblyman.

“The lawyers executed the instruction following his announcement to become an independent on 25 February 2021 and Hassan’s letter of resignation dated 26 February 2021 was then submitted to the Speaker, Datuk Kadzim Yahya yesterday,” said Padua.

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He said all Warisan candidates made the pledge of loyalty to the party voluntarily and without coercion.

“Warisan is saddened by the Speaker’s decision not to accept Hassan’s resignation and therefore will take legal recourse immediately.

“Further, it was Hassan’s second opportunity contesting in the state elections under the Warisan ticket having lost to a Barisan Nasional candidate in 2018,” he said.

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On February 25, Hassan indicated his decision to leave the party to support the government. Warisan then released a video of Hassan declaring his oath to pledge allegiance to the party in the name of God, saying he would remain with the party till the end of the term of the assembly.

In the video recorded last year when he was named the Warisan candidate for Sebatik in the 2020 state elections, he pledged his loyalty to the party and to submit his resignation letter to the Speaker and Head of State should he breach his allegiance to Warisan.

On Facebook, Hassan claimed he was forced to make the pledge as he would not have been named the Warisan candidate for Sebatik otherwise.

Yesterday, Hassan told the Speaker he wanted to withdraw the pre-signed and undated resignation letter.

Speaker Datuk Kadzim Yahya said today that Hassan remained an independent candidate as the pre-signed resignation letter did not carry a date and was consequently invalid.