Zuraida had requested for a postponement after being served letters of demand from PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Anwar’s political secretary Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak involving a civil action against her.

The party’s disciplinary board chairman Ahmad Kasim said the board decided to proceed with the hearings as the cases were civil and not criminal.

“I also want to point out that three disciplinary accusations have been levelled against Zuraida, whereas there is only one case involving a civil suit.

“The board gives Zuraida until Feb 20, considering her busy schedule as a Cabinet minister,” he said in a statement today.

Zuraida is the subject of an investigation by the PKR disciplinary board over remarks she made against fellow PKR leaders.

A show-cause letter was issued to her on Jan 18. She was given two weeks to respond and has reiterated that she would only answer to the disciplinary board.

Saifuddin had sent a letter of demand to Zuraida for slandering him by saying he had received “millions of ringgit” from PAS and a Kelantan trust fund for the poor when he was working as the manager of Tabung Amanah Tok Kenali in Kelantan.

Last week, Zuraida submitted a letter of leave from her responsibilities as PKR vice-president until the party’s disciplinary board completes its investigation into her remarks made in her speech.

Zuraida and PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali are among the leaders who had boycotted the final day of the party’s national congress in Melaka last year and held a dinner at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur on the same day.