The hearing into former Umno member Anina Saadudin’s suit against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak over the RM2.6 billion donation to the party allegedly deposited into his personal accounts, has been postponed.

The decision was made following a request by Anina’s lawyer, Haniff Khatri Abdullah, who wants to submit an application for the appeal to be heard by a quorum different from the one that sat for the hearing this morning.

“We found that two out of three Court of Appeal quorum members (today) had previously sat during Anina’s appeal against Tengku Adenan and Abdul Raof Yusoh, on the case of the termination of her membership from Umno.

“On that ground, and other existing legal principles, we requested that a different quorum than the quorum (in court today) hears the appeal,” Haniff told reporters outside the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya.

He said the situation could have occurred because the registrar may not have been informed of the judges who had sat on the same or related matter.

“There is no allegation on inability to come to a decision but the law allows for the application to be made so that an independent opinion can be formed and presented, based on an earlier evaluation,” he said, adding that a new hearing date would be determined by the court registrar.

According to Haniff, out of the three panel members today, only Justice Lim Yee Lan had never presided over Anina’s case.

A three-member bench had, in April, unanimously dismissed Anina’s appeal to challenge the termination of her Umno membership.

Anina was sacked from Umno in August last year, after she filed a suit against Prime Minister and party president Najib Abdul Razak to reclaim a portion of the RM2.6 billion in alleged party donations said to have left the country.

In September, she also filed another suit against Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Umno working secretary Abdul Rauf Yusoh, to challenge her sacking from the party.