Federal Court postpones ruling on PKR's RM10 million bond dispute with Zuraida

A three-judge Federal Court bench in Putrajaya has set aside a ruling on PKR’s appeal to restore a High Court judgment ordering former Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin to pay RM10 million for violating a party bond. PKR’s lawyer Ranjit Singh emphasized Zuraida’s contractual admission that the benefit she received surpassed the bond amount and cited Section 75 of the Contracts Act to argue the penalty should stand. Zuraida’s counsel, Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun, maintained that political contracts are subject to the same statutory protections and that the Court of Appeal’s reduction to RM100,000 was appropriate given the imbalance of bargaining power.

The bond, filed in 2020 after Zuraida’s departure from PKR post-2018 election, stipulates a RM10 million payment within seven days if she resigns, joins another party, or becomes independent. The bench, chaired by Chief Justice Tun Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, reserved its decision for a later date. The dispute highlights the legal complexities of political candidate bonds in Malaysia’s volatile party-hopping environment.