Former Langkawi Umno member Anina Saadudin has withdrawn her appeal to the Court of Appeal on the RM2.6 billion lawsuit against Umno president Najib Abdul Razak and its organising secretary Ab Rauf Yusof for the money to be returned to Umno.

Her lawyer, Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla, said the withdrawal of the appeal was done because Anina is no longer a member of Umno, and she has taken her fight to a new platform, with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

“Hence, we wrote in to the Court of Appeal on Thursday, Sept 22, to have the appeal withdrawn.

“As a result, the matter was taken off the list of cases in the appellate court today,” Haniff told Malaysiakini.

Following the withdrawal, Anina was ordered to pay RM5,000 in costs.

Anina had a month ago announced that she was withdrawing all her suits filed against Umno since she has became part of Bersatu.

She is a Bersatu committee member.

Last December, then judicial commissioner Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab ruled in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur that Anina does not have the locus standi (legal standing) to bring the civil action as she was not a public officer or an office-bearer of the party to do so, as stipulated under Section 9(c) of the Societies Act 1966.

Mohd Zaki, who has since been confirmed as a full judge, said Anina must continuously be a party member in order to be able to bring the derivative action and since she no longer holds a membership in Umno, she therefore has no basis to file the action.

Anina filed the suit against Najib and Ab Rauf on Aug 28 last year, in which she sought that the monies or the balance be returned to the party.