The prosecution will also seek a stay of proceedings for Muhyiddin Yassin’s money laundering charges pending the appeal. PETALING JAYA: The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) will appeal against the High Court’s decision to acquit former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin of four charges of abuse of power. Earlier, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed Muhyiddin’s application to strike out the four charges of abusing his position to obtain bribes totalling RM232.5 million for Bersatu.
Justice Jamil Hussin said the charges did not clearly disclose any offence known to law, and were not sufficiently clear to enable Muhyiddin, the Bersatu president, to prepare his defence. He said they lacked sufficient particulars as required under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
As such, he said, the charges were defective, before striking them out and acquitting Muhyiddin. Muhyiddin was charged with abusing his power as prime minister between Feb 8 and Aug 20, 2021 in connection with the Jana Wibawa programme by seeking to obtain RM232.5 million for Bersatu. He pleaded not guilty after the charges were read out to him in the sessions court here before judge Azura Alwi on March 10.
Meanwhile, lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik hailed the decision as “fair and just”. “The charges preferred against Muhyiddin were bad in law, seriously defected and must not see the light of day,” he said, describing them also as “an abuse of process”. Another defence lawyer, K Kumaraendran, said Muhyiddin was clearly innocent from the beginning. “His acquittal reinforces the presumption of innocence from the beginning,” he said. He added that the prosecution should have considered the law before deciding to bring the charges in the first place. “I don’t know what agenda they had when they first charged him,” he added.
Muhyiddin stated that ” From the beginning, I’ve felt that these charges are politically motivated. Actually I’ve never committed any wrongdoings whether under the purview of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission or any other laws. This has been proven by what’s been decided by the Honourable Judge, and I’m thankful for that. Hence we will proceed to shed light on what’s been done by certain parties to persecute me. Today proves that these are false allegations and legally baseless.
