Muhyiddin still has to face trial over RM232.5m bribes as court junks bid to restore acquittal

September 12, 2024

Muhyiddin still has to face trial over RM232.5m bribes as court junks bid to restore acquittal

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 11 — Former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will still have to face trial over four power abuse charges involving RM232.5 million bribes, as the Court of Appeal today dismissed his bid to review its earlier decision to send his case back to trial.

Judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi, who chaired the Court of Appeal’s five-judge panel, read out the decision here.

The other judges on the panel are Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali, Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, Datuk Azman Abdullah, and Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli.

On March 10, 2023, Muhyiddin was charged in the Sessions Court with four abuse of power charges under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

The four charges alleged that Muhyiddin used his position as Malaysia’s then prime minister and as Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president to obtain bribes totalling RM232.5 million from three companies and one individual (Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd, Mamfor Sdn Bhd and Azman Yusoff) for his “associate”, namely his party Bersatu.

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Muhyiddin was alleged to have committed these offences during the March 2020 to August 2021 period.

The High Court in August 2023 struck out the four charges and acquitted Muhyiddin.

But the Court of Appeal on February 28 decided to send Muhyiddin’s case back to the Sessions Court for trial.

Related video: Muhyiddin fails in bid to review Court of Appeal decision in abuse of power case (Dailymotion)

On February 29, Muhyiddin filed an appeal at the Federal Court against the Court of Appeal’s restoration of the four charges against him. But he had on March 29 withdrawn that appeal as he could not pursue the case at the Federal Court since it started at the Sessions Court.