Muhyiddin applies to transfer abuse of position, money laundering case to High Court

KUALA LUMPUR — Former Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (picture) has applied again to transfer the seven charges made against him for using his position to obtain bribes and receiving money from unlawful activities from the Sessions Court to the High Court.

His lawyer, Tang Jia Wearn, informed Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi that the hearing of the matter had been set for June 16 before High Court judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin and requested the Sessions Court to set the date for case management to know the status of the application.

Today was set for mention with the proceeding also attended by deputy public prosecutors Noralis Mat and Wan Nur Iman Wan Ahmad Afzal.

Earlier, Noralis informed the court that the prosecution had submitted the list of witnesses for the money laundering charge and documents related to the case today to the defence, and this was confirmed by Tang.

The court then set July 11 for case management, with Muhyiddin exempted from attending the proceeding.

In the application filed last April 4, Muhyiddin said there were complex legal issues and questions of unusual difficulty that were expected to arise, particularly regarding the constitutionality of several provisions in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009.

According to the Bersatu president, the case in question was of public interest that had attracted the attention of the general public and received extensive media coverage at home and abroad, and it would not cause any prejudice to the prosecution if the application was allowed.

On April 27, 2023, Muhyiddin had filed an application to transfer the case from the Sessions Court to the High Court, but on July 10 of the same year, he withdrew the application.

Muhyiddin, 77, as the Prime Minister (at the time) and Bersatu president was charged with four counts of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM232.5 million in connection with the Jana Wibawa Project from three companies, namely Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd and Mamfor Sdn Bhd, as well as Datuk Azman Yusoff, for the party.

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

The Pagoh Member of Parliament also faces three charges of receiving proceeds from illegal activities totalling RM200 million from Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, which were deposited into Bersatu’s Ambank and CIMB Bank accounts.

The offence was allegedly committed at separate locations at AmBank, Amcorp Mall branch, Petaling Jaya on Jan 7, 2022 and CIMB Bank, Menara KL Branch, Jalan Stesen Sentral, here between February 25 and July 16, 2021 and February 8 and July 8, 2022. — BERNAMA