Court of Appeal reinstates Muhyiddin’s criminal case involving RM232mil

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has reinstated the criminal case against former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin after his four charges of power abuse involving RM232.5mil were previously struck down by the High Court.

A panel of three judges chaired by Justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail said in its unanimous decision that the High Court had erred in law when it ruled the charges were defective.

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“The charges were unambiguous. There is no necessity to give further particulars,” Justice Hadhariah said.

Other judges on the bench were Justices Azmi Ariffin and S. M. Komathy Suppiah.

Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin then informed the court that the Sessions Court had set March 4 for mention for the prosecution to inform the development of its appeal.

Last Feb 15, Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi granted the prosecution’s application for a stay of proceedings of money laundering case pending its appeal over the striking out of the abuse of power charges against the former prime minister.

Present at Wednesday’s (Feb 28) proceedings were deputy public prosecutors Datuk Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar and Ahmad Akram Gharib, as well as lawyers Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Amer Hamzah Arshad, Rosli Dahlan and Chetan Jethwani, representing Muhyiddin.

Muhyiddin, 76, was charged with using his position as the then Prime Minister and Bersatu president to obtain bribes amounting to RM232.5mil from three companies, namely Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd and Mamfor Sdn Bhd, and also from one Datuk Azman Yusoff, for the party.

He was charged with committing the offences at the Prime Minister’s Office, Bangunan Perdana Putra, Federal Government Administration Centre in Putrajaya between March 1, 2020, and Aug 20, 2021.

In addition to the four charges, Muhyiddin was also charged with two counts of receiving proceeds from unlawful activities amounting to RM195mil from Bukhary Equity which was deposited into Bersatu’s CIMB Bank account.

The offences were allegedly committed at CIMB Bank Menara KL Branch, Jalan Stesen Sentral, here, between Feb 25 and July 16, 2021, and between Feb 8 and July 8, 2022.

Muhyiddin was also charged at the Shah Alam Sessions Court on March 13, 2023 with receiving money from illegal activities amounting to RM5mil, and the case had been transferred to the Sessions Court here for a joint trial.

Meanwhile, Hisyam when met by reporters said he accepted Wednesday’s decision and will consider filing an appeal in the Federal Court against the decision.

“If we want to file an appeal, it has to be done within 14 days. We will be at the Sessions Court on March 4 for follow-up action,” he said. – Bernama