Karpal: Speaker can't move to disqualify Tian Chua yet...

Veteran lawyer and lawmaker Karpal Singh said that the speaker of the Dewan Rakyat cannot move to disqualify Batu MP Chua Tian Chiang at this juncture.

Karpal said this was because Chua still can seek a review of a High Court case which handed down a decision that could potentially disqualify him.

“The speaker of the Dewan Rakyat cannot resort to the provisions of Article 53 (1) of the federal constitution for a decision to disqualify Chua at this stage.

A decision to disqualify Chua by the Dewan Rakyat can only be taken after the dismissal of his review application by the Court of Appeal,” said Karpal in a statement today.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal threw out Chua's application for a review of a High Court decision to hand him a RM2,000 fine for obstructing a police officer. Chua's application was rejected on the grounds of a technicality and thus Karpal argued that the former was still eligible to file a fresh application for a review.

“It is open to Chua to apply for a review of the decision of the Court of Appeal handed down yesterday within a reasonable time, as there is no time limit for filing an application for review and attend the Dewan Rakyat sitting commencing June 13, 2011,” said Karpal.

'Dewan Rakyat must wait for final court verdict'

Chua and his party PKR are now concerned about whether the speaker, who is from the BN, would use his powers under Article 53 (1) of the federal constitution to call for a vote on whether to disqualify him.

With nearly a two-third majority control of the Dewan Rakyat, a vote would surely not be in Chua's favour.

However, Karpal points out that Article 53 (1) also specifies that the Dewan Rakyat cannot prevent the House from postponing such a decision until other related proceedings, that may affect its decision, are disposed of.

Upon appeal, the High Court on June 17 last year dismissed his appeal against his conviction but reduced the fine from RM3,000 to RM2,000 specifically to avoid a by-election.

Article 48 of the federal constitution states that a member of the Dewan Rakyat can be disqualified if fined an amount “not less than RM2,000" by a Malaysian court.

Justice Ghazali Cha's rationale was based on Supreme Court Justice Gunn Chit Tuan's judgment that read “the phrase 'shall not be less than' should mean 'more than'”.

source:malaysiakini

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