Court Of Appeal Orders Muhyiddin's Case Of Using Position For Bribes Returned To Sessions Court

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 28 (Bernama) -- The Court of Appeal today ordered the case involving former Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for using his position for bribes amounting to RM232.5 million for Bersatu to be sent back to the Sessions Court for further action.

A panel of three judges chaired by Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail made the unanimous decision after allowing the prosecution’s appeal to set aside the High Court's decision which acquitted the Bersatu president of the four charges on Aug 15 last year.

Siting with Hadhariah were judges Datuk Azmi Ariffin and Datuk S.M Komathy Suppiah.

On  Aug 15 last year, High Court Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin acquitted and discharged Muhyiddin on four counts of abuse of power, involving RM232.5 million, in connection with the Jana Wibawa project.

The prosecution filed an appeal on the same day to the Court of Appeal.

Judge Hadhariah in her judgement said that the learned High Court  judge had erred in law when he ruled that the four charges did not disclose any offence known to law.

“On the issue raised by the appellant (prosecution) that the charges are not defective, we accept their (prosecution) submission. In our view, the four charges are clear and unambiguous.

“As such there is no necessity on the prosecution to set out the manner or give further particulars as to how the offence was committed. 

“Therefore, we allow the appeal to set aside the High Court order. The case is remitted to the Session Court Kuala Lumpur for the next course of action,” she said.

The judge said Bersatu, a political society, comes within the definition of associate as defined under Section 3 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act.

Judge Hadhariah further said that the appellant has contended that the political society comes within the definition of associate under Section 3 of the MACC Act.

“It is further argued by the appellant that the society falls within the definition of organisation under Section 3 of the same act. We agree with this submission.

“We find no merit in the respondent’s (Muhyiddin) submission that because the society is not mentioned in Section 3, therefore a society cannot come within the definition of associate,” she said.

She added that in their view, the ordinary meaning of an organisation is a group formed for a particular purpose.

“As a society is also a group formed for a particular purpose, it would fall within the definition of organisation,” she said.

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 Muhyiddin’s money laundering case pending its appeal over the striking out of the abuse of power charges against the former prime minister.

Present at today's 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 RM232.5 million 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 RM195 million 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 this year with receiving money from illegal activities amounting to RM5 million, and the case had been transferred to the Sessions Court here for a joint trial.

Meanwhile, Hisyam when met by reporters said he accepted today'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