KOTA KINABALU: Former foreign minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman (pic) has filed for a revision of the Federal Court’s dismissal of his appeal against the decision to nullify last year’s Kimanis parliamentary election results.
Lawyer Tengku Ahmad Fuad said Anifah contends there was a possibility of “bias or risk of bias” by four of the five-person Federal Court bench that had heard earlier appeals by Parti Warisan Sabah’s Kimanis candidate Datuk Karim Bujang.
“In his application for revision, Anifah will contend that the Federal Court quorum that heard his appeal was tainted with bias and or a real risk of bias,” Fuad said.
The Federal Court had, on Dec 2, upheld the earlier Election Court findings of discrepancies in the conduct of the election process and widespread non-compliance with election laws, which had affected the outcome of the polls.
Asked if Anifah was going to apply for a stay order on the Federal Court’s dismissal, Fuad said there was no provision for stay orders in such cases for review of a Federal Court decision.
The filing of the review under Rule 137 is expected to be done in the next two days.
It is understood the application will not affect the Election Commission’s (EC) move to call for a by-election for the Kimanis parliamentary seat.
The by-election must be called within 60 days of the Federal Court formally informing the EC of the court’s decision to nullify the results.