He said Umno lawyers, citing the party constitution, had said that the sacking and suspension of party members need only be referred to the Supreme Council.

Isham, who is a Supreme Council member, said other processes involving the disciplinary board and so on were actually only internal management practices.

“And so when the Supreme Council has endorsed the sackings and suspensions of the Umno members, then these are valid,” he said in a Facebook post today.

On Friday, Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan, in a statement issued after the Supreme Council meeting, announced the sackings of former Selangor Umno chief Noh Omar and former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin for breaching party discipline.

Also sacked were five Umno members from the Pasir Gudang division, nine from the Putrajaya division, two from the Tanjung Karang division and 26 from Pahang.

Meanwhile, Sembrong MP Hishammuddin Hussein was suspended for six years along with former information chief Shahril Hamdan, Tebrau Umno division leader Maulizan Bujang and former Jempol MP Salim Sharif.

Ahmad said among the offences committed were standing as independent candidates, being candidates of parties other than Barisan Nasional and helping opposition parties during the 15th general election.

Isham said he was confident that the party’s disciplinary board had examined available reports and evidence before making a decision, while stressing Supreme Council members did not interfere in the investigation process and the decision that followed.

He said Noh, Khairy and the others can still defend themselves and appeal several times to the disciplinary board.

“If Tan Sri Noh and Khairy as well as the others can disprove the evidence against them, I believe the disciplinary board will decide fairly,” he said.