Muhyiddin's money laundering charges were clear: Court of Appeal

 

The Court of Appeal ruled that former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin was not misled by the four abuse of power charges linked to the Jana Wibawa programme.

In a full written grounds of judgment released on Friday last week, the three-person appellate bench chaired by Hadhariah Syed Ali said that the particulars in the four charges were enough to notify the Pagoh MP on what precisely he was being charged with.

On Feb 28 during open-court proceedings, Hadhariah ruled that the four charges were clear and unambiguous, with the Kuala Lumpur High Court having erred in granting a discharge amounting to an acquittal to Muhyiddin over the four charges.

“In our opinion, the particulars in each of the four charges were sufficient to give notice to the respondent (Muhyiddin) of the matter with which he was charged.

“The respondent was not misled in any manner whatsoever merely because of the lack of particulars.

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

“In this regard, we find the learned High Court judge erred when he held the charges were not clear and the respondent was misled,” Hadhariah said in the written grounds dated April 16.

Muhyiddin has a pending review application hearing before the Court of Appeal on July 9 for the court to review its decision to quash his full acquittal given by the High Court on Aug 15 last year.

The four charges are pending before the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.

The Perikatan Nasional chairperson also faces three related money laundering counts pending at the Sessions Court.

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.

Money allegedly banked into Bersatu’s account

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 - 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 Muhyiddin.

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.

Money laundering transforms the monetary proceeds from criminal activity into funds with an apparently legal source. - Mkini