KOTA KINABALU, March 5 — Parti Warisan Sabah’s Youth wing has lodged a report today with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) against Sebatik assemblyman Hassan Gani Amir following his exit from the party recently.

Its deputy Youth chief Ismail Ayub said that the wing had made the report and submitted nine documents along with a photo that “showed clear evidence” of the movement of state assemblymen lately.

“We will leave it to the MACC to investigate,” he said when speaking to reporters at the state MACC office.

Among the documents provided were Hassan’s pre-signed resignation letter, a video of him pledging his commitment to remain with the party when he accepted his candidacy and a letter appointing lawyers to send the resignation letter on his behalf.

“We have provided all the documents and video showing his pledge and the resignation letter he signed voluntarily.

“On social media, he claimed he was forced to make the video — but there is no proof, elements of harassment or force. He did it because he wanted to be a candidate for the party,” said Ismail.

“We are defending the mandate given to the party,” he said, adding that Hassan, a first-term assemblyman, had lost to a Barisan Nasional candidate in the previous election.

Hassan quit Warisan on February 25 and announced that he would support the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah state government.

Warisan, however, said that Hassan was now duty-bound to resign as per his promise, which he had made of his own free will. He had also signed an undated resignation letter to be submitted to the State Assembly in the event he wanted to leave the party.

The resignation letter was submitted to the Speaker’s office earlier this week, but Hassan at the same time submitted a statutory declaration to retract the letter and said he had no intention of resigning.

Speaker Datuk Kadzim Yahaya decided that the resignation letter could not be accepted and said that Hassan would be an independent assemblyman in the House.

Ismail said that although he respected the Speaker’s decision, the party believes that it has rights and could pursue the matter from a legal standpoint.

“We respect the Speaker’s decision. He has the authority in the State Assembly. But from a legal aspect, we have some rights too. We have lawyers who will be taking legal action based on the State and Federal Constitutions,” he said.