Muhyiddin appeals to Federal Court to restore acquittal

Muhyiddin Yassin has gone up to the apex court to restore his acquittal of four abuse of power charges linked to the Jana Wibawa programme.

The former prime minister’s counsel from law firm Chetan Jethwani filed the Notice of Appeal to the Federal Court yesterday.

The Pagoh MP is targeting the Court of Appeal decision two days ago, which reversed a lower court decision that allowed his bid to challenge the charges for being vague and defective.

Speaking on behalf of the appellate bench in greenlighting the prosecution’s appeal, judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail ruled that the charges were clear and unambiguous.

On Aug 15 last year, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Muhammad Jamil Hussin ruled that the power abuse charges were defective and not in line with the Criminal Procedure Code.

Jamil said the charges did not reveal sufficient particulars on the alleged offence under the MACC Act 2009, including whether Muhyiddin was accused of making an unlawful decision or if he unlawfully used his position.

The judge rejected the prosecution’s contention that the details and particulars would be revealed during the criminal trial, pointing out that the charges must already contain enough particulars to allow Muhyiddin to be better prepared to meet the allegations during trial.

The Bersatu president is also facing three related money laundering counts pending at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.

4 abuse of power charges

In March last year, before the Sessions Court, Muhyiddin claimed trial to four counts of abuse of power and three money laundering charges involving RM232.5 million linked to Jana Wibawa.

The four abuse of power charges, framed under Section 23(1) of the MACC Act 2009, accused him of using his position as then prime minister and Bersatu president for an inducement of RM232.5 million from three companies and an individual, between March 1, 2020, and Aug 20, 2021.

The three companies are Bukhary Equity, Nepturis Sdn Bhd, and Mamfor Sdn Bhd, while the individual in question is Azman Yusoff.

The three money laundering charges were laid out under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing, and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Amlatfpuaa) - read with Section 87(1) of the same act.

The 77-year-old was accused of abusing his powers for Bersatu to receive RM125 million of proceeds from illegal activity from Bukhary Equity - between Feb 25, 2021, and July 8, 2022.

The charges did not allege that payment was made to the Perikatan Nasional chairperson.

The money was allegedly laundered by receiving money banked into Bersatu’s account.

Money laundering is the offence of disguising financial assets so they can be used while obscuring the illegal activity that produced them transforming the proceeds into funds with an apparently legal source.

The case against the opposition politician is set for mention before the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court next Monday (March 4).

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