Loretto handing over Hasan’s pre-signed resignation letter at the Sabah Legislative Assembly yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU (March 3): Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) will be taking urgent legal action to compel the Sabah State Assembly (DUN) Speaker Datuk Kadzim Yahya to accept the resignation of Sebatik state assemblyman Hassan A. Gani Pg Amir and declare the seat vacant.
According to Warisan’s secretary general Datuk Loretto S Padua, party lawyers have documents that clearly indicated Hassan’s agreement to resign as an assemblyman in the event he leaves the party.
“He (Hassan) also willingly signed a letter of allegiance to Warisan,” said Loretto in a statement today.
Loretto disclosed that in a letter dated Sept 10, last year 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, Loretto said, executed the instruction following his announcement to become an independent on Feb 25 and Hassan’s letter of resignation dated Feb 26 was then submitted to the Speaker on Tuesday.
Warisan had earlier released a video of Hassan declaring his oath to pledge allegiance to the party in the name of God, saying he would remain with the party till the end of the term of the assembly.
In the video recorded last year when he was named the Warisan candidate for Sebatik in the 2020 state election, Hassan pledged to submit his resignation letter to the Speaker and Head of State should he breach his allegiance to Warisan.
“All Warisan candidates made the pledge of loyalty to the party voluntarily with no element of coercion from the party. Further, it was Hassan’s second opportunity contesting in the state elections under the Warisan ticket having lost to a Barisan Nasional candidate in 2018,” Loretto stressed.
Warisan, he said is saddened by the Speaker’s decision not to accept Hassan’s resignation and therefore will take legal recourse immediately.