Lokman Noor Adam, the suspended supreme council member of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan), was sacked from the party last night.

Secretary general Mustaffa Kamil Ayub told malaysiakini that the council at its meeting made the unanimous decision to strip Lokman of his membership after considering the findings presented by the independent investigation committee.

"We will be sending an official letter to him today informing him of the decision and that he has 21 days to appeal against the decision. He can submit his appeal to the council within the period," he said.

Mustaffa said that there was evidence to show that Lokman did express his intention to rejoin Umno and that he had attempted to influence other party members to defect as well.

He is also found guilty of bringing disrepute to the party by making wild allegations against the party and several of its leaders through the media.

"The supreme council is satisfied that he was given ample opportunity to defend himself from the allegations. He, however, failed to defend himself and to substantiate the accusations that he had made against the party and its leaders through the media," he said.

"The council also found that he had refused to cooperate with the independent investigations committee and had instead chose to disgrace the party through the media."

No faith in body

On Jan 26, youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor sacked Lokman as youth secretary for allegedly urging party members to defect to Umno - an allegation which Lokman had repeatedly denied.

Ezam's decision was upheld by the supreme council which also suspended Lokman as supreme council member pending investigations by the committee comprising of deputy president Abdul Rahman Othman, vice president Tian Chua and treasurer Kamarul Baharin Abbas.

Lokman said that he has no faith in the committee and does not believe that it will give him a fair hearing, adding that the appointment of Abdul Rahman, Tian Chua and Kamarul had breached the party constitution which provides that any inquiry into the conduct of supreme council member must be done by non-council members.

In an immediate reaction, Lokman issued a press statement expressing his disappointment with the decision, claiming that the party had failed to act judiciously in the case.

"I have now no choice but to go straight to the grassroots to clear my name," he said.

For starters, Lokman said he will swear upon the Quran at the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon that the allegations against him were untrue.

In his statement, Lokman denied all the allegations saying that he had neither joined Umno nor persuade other Keadilan members to do so.

He also denied bringing disrepute to the party and its leaders through the media stating that his statements only touched on three individuals: youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, vice president Azmin Ali ( left ) and information chief Khalid Jaafar.

"If my criticism against the three is deemed to have brought disrepute to the party, then my statement that 'Ezam/Azmin/ Khalid is Keadilan' is true," he said.

"Further, if I can be sacked for using the media, then Ezam too must be dealt the same way as he too took the issue to the media by attacking my credibility."

Overwhelming evidence

Meanwhile, sources closed to the top leadership said that the investigations committee found overwhelming evidence from testimonies from several people that Lokman had openly announced his intention to join Umno.

"The committee also interviewed several people who had testified that Lokman had tried to persuade them to join Umno." the politician said.

On the allegations that Lokman made against Ezam, he said it was difficult for the committee to verify the complaints unless Lokman presented his evidence which he failed to do so.

"The committee found that Lokman's allegations referred to incidents where no other witnesses was present except for the two. So it's Lokman's words against Ezam's. While Ezam had presented his case, Lokman had refused to cooperate. The committee did not have any choice but found the allegations against Ezam unfounded."