KUALA LUMPUR – The Melaka Election Court has issued an arrest warrant against Bersatu Youth permanent chairman Akmal Zahin Zainal Zahir after he failed to show up as a witness in the trial challenging Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) win in the Masjid Tanah parliamentary seat.
According to Malaysiakini, the warrant was also issued to another witness, PN’s Masjid Tanah MP Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin’s former chief private secretary Noor Hashimah Noordin.
“Akmal was issued an arrest warrant over his failure to attend as a witness (for the petition by Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Abdul Hakim Abdul Wahid).
“He was ordered to be present at the Melaka Election High Court to testify over allegations that he (Akmal) had given inducement during the 15th general elections (GE15) in Masjid Tanah,” the news site quoted Abdul Hakim’s lawyer Amin Othman as saying today.
The lawyer added that Election Court judge Datuk Abu Bakar Katar issued the arrest warrants when Akmal and Hashimah failed to turn up at court for the hearing.
Amin also said that the court has set September 11 for both witnesses to attend proceedings.
Akmal was reportedly supposed to testify on allegations that he bribed voters during the election. During the trial, the court was shown a video of him handing out envelopes allegedly containing cash to voters in Masjid Tanah.
In the petition filed on January 3, Abdul Hakim had sought to challenge Mas Ermieyati’s victory in GE15, claiming that elements of bribery in the form of money and banquets during the election campaign had affected the results of the polls.
On February 7, Melaka Election Court judge Datuk Anselm Charles Fernandis allowed a preliminary objection by Mas Ermieyati to strike out the petition.
Later, on May 2, the Federal Court overturned the decision and ordered the lower court to conduct a full hearing after a three-member panel led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat ruled that the pleadings in the petition for the seat are sufficient.
Bersatu’s Mas Ermieyati won the seat with a majority of 4,411 votes, in a four-cornered fight against Abdul Hakim, Mutalib Uthman (Muda) and Handrawirawan Abu Bakar (Pejuang). — September 8, 2023