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Azmin points to Anwar link in travel agency suit against him
PETALING JAYA: Mohamed Azmin Ali has linked the owners of a travel agency suing him over unpaid travel bills to a conspiracy against him involving a gay-sex video controversy earlier this year.
A counter-claim to the suit said the owners of the travel agency are the parents of Muhammad Haziq Hassan Mohd Ayub, who was arrested by police and implicated in the distribution of the sex video.
It said Haziq’s parents are “very close” to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and suggested that the suit was filed in order to damage Azmin politically.
The sex video controversy in June involved a former PKR Youth divisional leader Haziq Aziz who said he was the person seen in several video clips showing two men performing homosexual acts. He named Azmin as the second person, a claim vehemently denied by Azmin, who is economic affairs minister and deputy president of PKR.
Azmin’s counter-claim against the travel agency, sighted by FMT, alleged that the sex-video conspiracy was “orchestrated by the leader of a political party”, making note of a police statement regarding the video.
Azmin suggested that the contents of the travel agency’s suit were leaked to the Sarawak Report web site as part of the conspiracy.
The counter-claim alleged that the travel agency’s “intention of filing (the suit over the unpaid bills) and leaking it to the Sarawak Report without giving the true background was to damage the defendant (Azmin) politically to the advantage of the above said political leader”.
The counter-claim was filed on Friday by the legal firm Daim & Gamany.
It states that Haziq Hassan’s mother, Yasmin Hanim Arbee, owns a majority of the shares in YHA Travel & Tours while his father, Mohd Ayub Hassan, is the agency’s chairman.
The suit by YHA Travel & Tours, filed last month, is over RM328,901 in unpaid travel bills, which included private trips by Azmin’s family and his trip to Sandakan during a by-election, which was later to figure in the sex-video controversy.
Details of the suit were first revealed by Sarawak Report.
Azmin’s counter claim states that Yasmin and Mohd Ayub “enjoy a very close relationship” with Anwar, and alleges that YHA Travel & Tours had leaked the statement of claim, arguing that Sarawak Report “could not have been privy” to the writ without assistance from the travel agency.
It said there was an ulterior purpose in bringing the matter to court, and Azmin sought general, exemplary and aggravated damages for damage to his character.
Azmin denied owing the travel agency RM328,901 but accepted liability for RM162,272 comprising RM41,752 in bills on his account and more than RM60,000 each for his two underage sons.
He denied liability for the accounts of his adult son and three adult daughters, and also denied liability for the travel account of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. He denied any knowledge of an account in the name of Wan Putera Shahjuan W Salihudin and denied liability for the sum of RM2,570 claimed by the agency.
The counter-claim said the suit brought by YHA Travel & Tours was a “breach of understanding” between Azmin and the agency. It said they had a 20-year-long relationship in which he was given “considerable latitude in settling any outstanding sum” owed to them.
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Azmin claims travel agency suit part of sex video conspiracy by ‘party leader’
Editor’s note: An earlier copy of this report mistakenly wrote that the travel agency’s majority shareholder was the mother of Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz. This error is regretted.
A new twist has emerged in the lawsuit filed by a travel agency against Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali.
In a counterclaim filed by Azmin’s lawyers Messrs Daim and Gamani, it is alleged that suit had an ulterior motive, linked to the alleged sex videos between the PKR deputy president and Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz.
The filing sighted by Malaysiakini referred to the footage as the “fitnah videos”.
It said that YHA Travel & Tours (M) Sdn Bhd’s majority shareholder Yasmin Hanim Arbee and her husband, chairperson Mohd Ayub Hassan were the parents of one Mohd Haziq Hassan Mohd Ayub.
Haziq Hassan had been arrested in connection with the police probe into the sex video.
The countersuit said that both Yasmin and Mohd Ayub had enjoyed a “very close relationship” with PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.
“The filing of this suit by the plaintiff (YHA) is not for the vindication of the plaintiff’s rights but for some ulterior purpose that is designed to harm the defendant (Azmin),” it said.
“The conspiracy in relation to the ‘fitnah videos’ was orchestrated by the leader of a political party,” it also said.
The countersuit also alleged that YHA’s statement of claim had been leaked to Sarawak Report, who could not have been privy to the filing, thus supporting the claim of an ulterior motive.
Azmin is seeking damages, costs and any further relief provided by the court.
In June this year, Haziq Abdul Aziz had claimed that sex videos circulating on social media were of him and a man he claimed was Azmin.
Azmin has denied this, saying it was slander aimed at tarnishing his image.
Police have sent the video to be analysed by a US university after they failed to determine the identities of those in the video.
In July, Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador said a political leader was behind the plot, which Azmin cited in his counterclaim.
YHA had sued Azmin last month for the recovery of RM328,901 for unpaid flight tickets and hotel stays.
In his statement of defence, Azmin said he had a 20-year-long friendly business relationship with the travel agency, which gave him “considerable latitude in settling any outstanding sum” and that the suit had breached their “understanding”.
Azmin admitted liability to the sum owed by himself and his children under the age of 20.
However, he said his children who are older than 20 will have to pay for the sum owed themselves.
Similarly, Azmin said he is also not liable for any sum due under the Economic Affairs Ministry’s account.
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PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Azmin Ali (pic) has filed a counterclaim against the travel agency that accused him of not paying his travel expenses.
In the Economic Affairs Minister’s counterclaim filed by his lawyers Daim & Gamany at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Friday (Dec 13), he stated that he would settle an amount of RM162,272 owed.
He added that he had a 20-year-long business relationship with the owners of the travel agency YHA Travel and Tours Sdn Bhd, where he was “given the latitude in settling any outstanding sum owed to the agency”.
“Any sum due and owing in the defendant’s account (Azmin) or for the account of his children who are below the age of 20 years old and below will be settled by the defendant.
“For the amount of his children who are adults, any sum due and owing is to be settled by the respective account holder,” the counterclaim stated.
Azmin also said that he is not liable for any sum owing under the account named “the ministry’s account”.
In the counterclaim, Azmin stated that the suit by the travel agency was a political attack by a certain politician, whom he named in the document.
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Zuraida doesn’t think travel agency suing Azmin is political
PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin does not believe that there is a political element in a travel agency’s lawsuit against party deputy president Azmin Ali.
“If I understand (correctly), the son of the owner (of the travel agency) is (said to be) one of those detained by the police over the (sex) video.
“(I think) it is just a coincidence. I don’t think there is a relationship (between the lawsuit) and that issue,” Zuraida told reporters today in Putrajaya.
Zuraida was responding to a question on speculation online that the lawsuit by YHA Travel & Tour to claim RM328,901 in travel booking fees from Azmin had a political angle.
Several political Facebook pages and blogs had accused the owner of YHA Travel & Tour of being a close ally of Anwar Ibrahim.
Some also alleged that the owner’s son was arrested by police on July 19 over the sex video that implicated Azmin. Of the 11 people arrested over the video, no one has faced charges yet.
Asked if she believed the suit was designed to damage the cabinet or Pakatan Harapan’s image, Zuraida replied in the negative.
She believed that the travel agency probably discovered the payment lapse recently and was trying to recover the funds.
“I think it’s just business […] Probably Azmin overlooked this. He is prepared to pay. So there is no issue,” she said.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/499119
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weehingthong 