Tan Sri Annuar Musa refuted news reports that the party will not proceed with the lawsuit, saying he will be writing in to a renowned law firm to initiate the filing. ― Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — Thirty MPs and assemblymen nationwide who were formerly from Umno will be taken to court for leaving the party after Election 2018, Tan Sri Annuar Musa said today.

The Umno secretary-general refuted news reports that the party will not proceed with the lawsuit, saying he will be writing in to a renowned law firm to initiate the filing.

“This was agreed by the party top leadership, treasury, and a lawyer that is handling the case.

“Another large law firm has been appointed and I will write in a letter to them tomorrow and provide a full list of all the MPs and state assemblymen that has left the party,” he told reporters at Parliament.

Annuar had dismissed a report which stated the party would withdraw the lawsuit due to the high cost.

The Ketereh MP said the MPs and state assemblymen who will be sued include those from Sabah, Johor, Perak, and Kedah.

“I can confirm today that all Adun and MPs that have left the party — they will get the summons respectively no exception,” he said, adding that he could not disclose the cost of the proceeding.

Some of the defections from Umno since GE14 include Jeli MP Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, Masjid Tanah MP Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin, Larut MP Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin and Beaufort MP Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee.