Bersatu's accounts still frozen despite notice expiry, court hears

Two bank accounts belonging to Bersatu, which were frozen and seized in 2023, remain inaccessible until today despite the seizure notice period having lapsed, the High Court heard today.

The party’s lawyer, Chetan Jethwani, argued that this continued seizure of Bersatu’s CIMB and Ambank accounts is illegal and is tainted with mala fide and procedural improprieties.

This is especially since there were no criminal charges brought against the party as a society, he said.

He added that according to Section 44(5) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorist Financing, and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (Amla) 2001, the freeze order shall cease to have effect after 90 days if the party in question was not charged with an offence under the Act.

“Instead of releasing the bank accounts to Bersatu, the MACC has continued to wrongfully deprive (the party) of its bank accounts.

“This not only contravenes Article 13 of the Federal Constitution but also demonstrates that the conduct of the respondents smacks of bad faith,” he submitted to judge Aliza Sulaiman.

Previously, MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said in February 2023 that the accounts were frozen to facilitate an investigation under the Act.

However, according to the timeline in the counsel’s written submissions, MACC froze Bersatu’s CIMB and Ambank’s bank accounts on Jan 12 and 13, 2023, in which the notice period would end on April 12 and 13 the same year.

The party and its president, Muhyiddin Yassin, had filed an application on March 8, the same year, challenging the freezing notice, prior to their accounts being seized.

Despite the freeze order ending, they added, the party still could not access their accounts on April 13, prompting them to formally raise the matter with MACC in an April 14 letter, which MACC replied to on April 19, confirming that the accounts were seized, without serving the party a seizure notice.

MACC, in a statement on April 20, said it seized the accounts on April 11, the same year, after submitting an order in accordance with Section 50 of Amla.

Charges superseded seizure notice

However, senior federal counsel Norhaffiza Azizan submitted that the criminal charges against Muhyiddin superseded the MACC’s seizure notice as he was charged in his capacity as the party’s president.

“Bersatu as a society cannot be charged on its own (but) Muhyiddin has been charged in his capacity as the party’s president.

“The seizure order has not expired because the charges (against Muhyiddin) had superseded the seizure order, until and unless a judgment has been pronounced for the case.

“Therefore, this issue should be ventilated in the criminal court and not via judicial review in this court,” Norhaffiza said.

Muhyiddin’s charges

Muhyiddin was charged in March 2023 with four counts of abuse of power under Section 23(1) of the MACC Act 2009 and three counts of money laundering under Section 4(1)(b) of the Amla, with the case to be heard next year.

The charges are linked to the Jana Wibawa programme, introduced during his tenure as the prime minister between 2020 and 2021.

Under the abuse of power charges, he was accused of using his position as then-prime minister and Bersatu president to solicit 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.

For the three money laundering charges, Muhyiddin was accused of using his position as Bersatu’s president to receive RM200 million from Bukhary Equity between Feb 25, 2021 and July 8, 2022

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Muhyiddin's RM432m Jana Wibawa trial begins in March