Former senator Ezam Mohd Nor today confirmed that he has quit as a member of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).

“Yes. I have sent a letter to the secretary-general one week ago…” Ezam told Malaysiakini when contacted.

He also said the decision was made a few days after his NGO Hisbah Centre held its annual board meeting.

“Hisbah views seriously the long-standing 1MDB crisis and Felda which has the potential to be worse than 1MDB.

“Therefore, Hisbah has decided to focus full attention on these two major cases,” said Ezam, adding that the board members had requested him to be non-partisan in dealing with the two major corruption scandals.

“So on that basis I have officially submitted my resignation letter to the secretary-general,” he said in clarifying an earlier report by Free Malaysia Today who quoted a source that claimed his departure was linked to personal unhappiness over developments in Bersatu.

“There is no issue of internal problems (in Bersatu).

“I have never been involved with the party’s leadership and I do not want to be involved,” he stressed.

Bersatu secretary-general Shaharuddin Md Salleh, however, denied knowledge of Ezam's decision to quit the party.

“What? I don’t know. No news from Ezam,” the Jorak assemblyperson told Malaysiakini when contacted.

Shaharuddin also insisted that he did not receive Ezam’s resignation letter.

“Did not receive it… Something new to me,” he said via text message.

Bersatu information chief Kamarudin Md Nor, meanwhile, similarly said that he was unaware of the decision.

“I didn’t hear anything… not that I know of. And I couldn’t think of any reason why he would quit,” said Kamarudin.

Ezam had reportedly applied to join Bersatu in October, after quitting Umno earlier the same month.

Ezam, once regarded as PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's right-hand man, returned to Umno in 2008, after a fallout with PKR.