Its secretary-general Loretto Padua Jr said the party would be taking urgent legal steps to compel Kadzim to accept Hassan’s resignation and vacate the seat.
“Warisan is saddened by the Speaker’s decision not to accept Hassan’s resignation and therefore, will take legal action immediately,” he said here today.
Loretto said party lawyers have documents that clearly indicate Hassan agreed to resign if he left the party, adding that Hassan also willingly signed a letter of allegiance to Warisan.
He added that in a letter dated Sept 10, 2020 to his lawyers, Hassan instructed them to date and submit his resignation letter to the Speaker and the Head of State in the event that he, among others, declared himself to be independent before or after being sworn in as an assemblyman.
“The lawyers executed the instruction following his announcement to become an independent last Thursday and Hassan’s letter of resignation dated Feb 26 was then submitted to the Speaker yesterday,” Loretto said.
Earlier, Kadzim said Hassan would remain as Sebatik assemblyman after rejecting the pre-signed resignation letter submitted by Warisan.
Kadzim said the letter signed by Hassan, who quit Warisan to become an independent supporting the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government last week, was “ineffective” under the current law.
At the same time, he said Hassan had also handed to him a statutory declaration to withdraw and revoke any pre-signed documents with Warisan, besides stating his intention to keep his seat.
“I have gone through both documents. I found the resignation letter supposedly signed by Hassan ineffective. Under the law now, any pre-signed and undated resignation letter is invalid.
“Based on that, I cannot accept the resignation letter when at the same time the representative himself voiced no intention to vacate the seat. Hassan remains as the Sebatik rep and an independent but friendly to the GRS government,” he said.
Warisan, however, is adamant Hassan should vacate the seat.
Loretto said the party had earlier released a video of Hassan declaring his oath of allegiance to the party “in the name of God”, saying he would remain with the party till the end of the term of the current state assembly.
“In that video recorded last year, when he was named as Warisan candidate for Sebatik, he pledged to submit his resignation letter to the Speaker and Sabah governor should he breach his allegiance to Warisan.
“All Warisan candidates made the pledge of loyalty to the party voluntarily,” he said.
Loretto added that it was Hassan’s second opportunity contesting in the state elections under the Warisan banner, having lost to a Barisan Nasional candidate in 2018.