KOTA KINABALU: The High Court here today will hear this afternoon the oral submissions on legal action brought by former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman to challenge Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal’s appointment as the new Chief Minister on May 12.
Counsel Datuk Douglas Lind, representing Mohd Shafie, said all parties had filed their written submissions to the court and the hearing was fixed for today.
The case will be heard before Justice Datuk Yew Jen Kie.
On Aug 24, Justice Yew dismissed Mohd Shafie’s application to strike out an originating summons filed by Musa after ruling that Musa had raised questions of law which rendered the originating summons unsuitable to be struck out summarily.
He ordered all parties to file their written submissions before he made the decision.
Mohd Shafie filed the striking out application on June 5 on the grounds that Musa had no valid reason to challenge his appointment on May 12 as the new chief minister.
An originating summon requires no trial and lawyers from both parties will file submissions and affidavits to argue their cases, while a writ of summons require a trial with calling of witnesses to testify.
Initially, Musa had on May 17, filed a writ of summons, but withdrew it, and in June, he filed the originating summons seeking a court declaration, among others, that he is the rightful Chief Minister of Sabah appointed on May 10 by the Yang Di Pertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.
In the originating summon, Musa named Juhar as the first defendant and his successor, Mohd Shafie, as the second defendant, and sought a declaration that the May 12 appointment of Shafie as Chief Minister was illegal.
Musa was sworn in as Chief Minister on May 10 after securing a simple majority in the 14th general election, but lost the majority when several assemblymen from his party (UMNO) and UPKO, which is also a Barisan Nasional component party, jumped ship to give their support to Parti Warisan Sabah lead by Mohd Shafie. – Bernama