Will not be held accountable to any court except Supreme Court: Majlis

The Parliament has notified the Chief Justice that according to the constitution, the only court they will have to be accountable to is to the Supreme Court in cases regarding constitutional issues.

The notification comes at a time when a court hearing regarding the case filed by Malaysian company Nexbis against the Parliament is scheduled to begin at 2:45 pm today.

Nexbis filed the case opposing the Parliament decision to order the government to terminate their agreement with the company.

Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Ahmed Nazim told Sun today that the summon chit was sent to the Attorney General (AG) Azima Shakoor and that the AG has advised the parliament to attend the summon.

Nazim however said that according to Article 88 of the Constitution, the decisions of the parliament are protected by privileges and that a decision has been made that the parliament shall not be questioned in any issues other than constitutional issues, in which instances they are only answerable to the Supreme Court.

“If we are to go to court regarding our every single decision, there will be no solution to it. Therefore, except for instances stipulated in the constitution and answering to the Supreme Court regarding constitutional matters, going to all other courts has come to an end,” said Nazim.

He also said that the parliament would soon release a press statement detailing the notice sent to Chief Justice.

A budget recommendation was also included in the recently passed 2013 budget to terminate the Nexbis agreement. Parliament Public Accounts Committee had said that when such a recommendation is included in the budget and subsequently passed by the parliament, the government would not be allowed any “choice” except to terminate the agreement.

Photo caption: Members at a Parliament sitting: the parliament has said that they will not be answerable to any court except the Supreme Court.