A three-member bench chaired by Justice Rhodzariah Bujang said there was no exceptional circumstance raised to allow the former minister’s application, premised on Rule 137 of the Federal Court Rules 1995.
Rule 137 recognises the Federal Court’s inherent power to review its previous decisions in order to prevent an injustice or an abuse of process.
Zuraida’s complaint is that a Federal Court bench last year amended a legal question posed by PKR in allowing the party’s leave to appeal.
She said this amounted to the previous bench acting outside of its jurisdiction.
Rhodzariah, who sat with Justices Nazlan Ghazali and Collin Lawrence Sequerah, said the apex court had amended legal questions during appeal hearings in the past, and that Rule 108 of the Federal Court Rules 1995 provides for this.
“It can also be done at the leave stage to refine the questions posed, and this does not amount to acting out of jurisdiction,” she said.
The bench also ordered Zuraida to pay PKR RM50,000 in costs.
On June 24, a three-member apex bench led by Justice Nallini Pathmanathan, who has retired, allowed PKR’s leave application on a single question of law.
The question was whether a court could override a factual admission that a specified sum represents the value received under a contract, in order to determine what constitutes reasonable compensation in the circumstances of the case.
Justices Nordin Hassan and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera were also on the panel that heard the application.
PKR sued Zuraida in 2020, claiming she had breached a contractual bond by joining Bersatu following the Sheraton Move in February that year.
The terms of the bond required Zuraida to pay PKR RM10 million within seven days if she resigned to join another political party or became an independent MP.
In her defence, Zuraida claimed that the bond violated her constitutional right to freedom of association.
On June 23, 2023, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed PKR’s suit and entered judgment in favour of PKR for RM10 million, holding that Zuraida had breached the terms of the bond signed with the party prior to the 2018 general election.
On Dec 11, 2024, the Court of Appeal dismissed Zuraida’s appeal against liability but reduced the quantum, ruling that the RM10 million sum was “unreasonable”, and awarded PKR RM100,000 instead.
Lawyers Ranjit Singh, Navpreet Singh, William Leong, Gregory Leong, and Liew Hong Wei appeared for PKR.
Counsel Azhar Harun, Nurul Najwa Zainuddin, and Syed Afiq Syed Albakri acted for Zuraida.
Navpreet told reporters that a case management would be held tomorrow to fix the appeal hearing date.