Isa Samad who last month became the highest-profile victim of an anti-corruption campaign filed an appeal today against his six-year suspension from the ruling party Umno.

The party's disciplinary committee found Isa, its vice president as well as Federal Territories Minister, guilty of practising "money politics" by buying votes during party leadership elections last September.

"Let the process takes its course," Isa's press secretary Zamri Zainol Abidin was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency after he handed the appeal to the party.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is president of Umno which is the lead party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, has launched a drive against corruption within government ranks.

Another high-profile casualty has been former lands and cooperative development minister Kasitah Gaddam who will go on trial in November over an allegedly fraudulent share transaction worth millions of ringgit.

The former head of troubled steel giant Perwaja, Eric Chia, has also been charged with embezzling RM76.4 million, eight years after an investigation was launched into Malaysia's biggest financial scandal.

His trial is ongoing.

Abdullah's swift action against graft after he took power in October 2003 surprised critics who were sceptical of his promise to be ruthless with corrupt officials.

Since then the anti-corruption drive appears to have lost steam. The surprise move against Isa revived hopes among reformists that other senior members could be targeted, but officials have said that no other figures are in its sights.