The 16 Umno branch members who yesterday resorted to court action in seeking the party's dissolution have been sacked with immediate effect, party secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor announced today.

According to a New Straits Times report, Tengku Adnan accused the 16 of being part of an opposition "game" to bring down Umno.

He said he will be issuing the letters of termination for the 16, upon discussing the matter with Umno lawyers yesterday.

“I know what is happening. This is another game by the opposition.

"They don’t know how to take care of their own parties and they are the ones who have problems with the Registrar of Societies, and now they want to drag us along," he said.

As the secretary-general for both Umno and Barisan Nasional, Tengku Adnan stated that he could assure that the party adhered to the rules set by the ROS.

“The mastermind behind this situation is the outsider (opposition), they know they are weak and will lose again (in the 14th general election), so they use all sorts of way (to discredit Umno),” he was reported to have said after an event in Putrajaya today.

The sixteen, from 11 branches in six states, had yesterday filed an application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court seeking leave to proceed with a judicial review to quash the ROS decision to allow Umno a time extension in order to hold its party polls.

Read more: Sacked Umno members to cite party for contempt, says lawyer

The 16 are: Salihudin Ahmad Khalid, Noor Halimi Yahya, Mariam Mohd Ishak, Mohd Hafami Hanif, Saharuddin Tukiman, Azaid Jani, Normalawati Hassan, Radiana Abd Manaf, Mohd Raafeek Rahim, Nurul Hanna Mohd Suhot, Kamarul Abd Wahid, Mohd Hikamal Md Hassim, Muzamzamir Abd Wahab, Norizam Jamaludin, Rohani Ahmad and Muhamad Hafizi Hashim.

They also sought the deregistration of Umno under Section 14(2) and 14(5) of the Societies Act 1966 for both provisional and permanent dissolution.

They were represented by senior lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla, who also represents former Umno president and current Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The ROS and Umno organising secretary Abdul Rauf Yusoh were named as respondents.

This follows their argument that the last day for Umno branches to hold their elections was on Feb 28 and the last day for the supreme council and 191 divisions to function was on April 19, this year.

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