KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President Datuk Yong Teck Lee said the disclosure by Kota Kinabalu High Court Judge Muhammad Kamil Awang pertaining to a witness in the Likas election petitions, deserved immediate investigation by the authorities.

To my knowledge and that of my lawyers in this case, there is only one witness subpoenaed by the court, namely Datuk Karim Ghani and he is alive and well.

"If the court subpoenaed any other witnesses, then our lawyers were never informed at all," he said in a statement Monday.

Karim is Sabah UMNO Information Chief.

Muhammad Kamil in a report Monday was quoted as disclosing that one of the witnesses he subpoenaed to give evidence in court was later found killed while another witness was kidnapped during lunch-break.

"It is absolutely amazing and puzzling that the judge is only disclosing such shocking matters now, bit by bit and outside the proceedings of the court," Yong said.

On June 8, Muhammad Kamil who heard the Likas election petitions, declared that the 1999 state election result  for the Likas state seat as null and void after ruling that the electoral roll used was illegal.