Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid is set to hear Bersatu’s legal challenge against the MACC's seizure of its two bank accounts.
The civil court judge was also the one who last month gave the greenlight for the opposition party to proceed with its separate legal challenge to quash MACC’s freezing of the bank accounts.
Bersatu’s judicial review leave application in relation to the account seizure was set to be heard before Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh today.
During online proceedings, the opposition party’s legal team applied for the action to be transferred to the civil court presided by Ahmad Kamal, to which Wan Ahmad Farid allowed the transfer.
When contacted, Bersatu’s counsel Rosli Dahlan confirmed the outcome, adding that federal counsels from the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) did not raise an objection to the transfer bid.
The lawyer said that the transfer was sought as the issue of the account seizure is linked to the issue of the account freezing, which is the subject matter of the other legal action.
With today’s transfer, Ahmad Kamal is set to preside over both legal actions.
The judge would later set a date to hear Bersatu’s application to be granted leave to proceed with the judicial review over the account seizure.
In the event that Ahmad Kamal grants leave, he would later set a separate date to hear the merits of the legal action.
On April 20, Bersatu’s party accounts that were previously frozen by the MACC have been seized.
The anti-graft agency clarified in a statement that the accounts were seized on April 11 after submitting an order in accordance with Section 50 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorist Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (Amlatfpuaa) 2001.
MACC made the statement in response to a report by The Edge titled “Bersatu asks MACC why two accounts still frozen after 90 days”.
“Previously, the accounts involved were frozen on Jan 12 and 13 in accordance with Section 44 of the Amlatfpuaa 2001 to assist investigations.
“Following that, the MACC implemented the seizure action on April 11 in relation to the investigation and charges against Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin under the MACC Act 2009 and Amlatfpuaa 2001,” the agency said.
Bersatu alleged that the seizure orders were dubious and have been backdated to April 11 whereas the announcement by MACC was made on April 20, hence why MACC has allegedly refused to serve the seizure orders until today.
Back on March 20, Muhyiddin claimed trial to four counts of abuse of power and two money laundering charges involving RM232.5 million.
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.
The three companies are Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd, and Mamfor Sdn Bhd, while the individual in question is Azman Yusoff.
The two money laundering charges were laid out under Section 4(1)(b) of the Amlatfpuaa read with Section 87(1) of the same act.
The 76-year-old is accused of abusing his powers for Bersatu to receive RM120 million of proceeds from illegal activity from Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd - between Feb 25, 2021, and July 8, 2022.
The charges did not allege that payment was made to Muhyiddin, hence why his personal bank accounts were never frozen.
The money laundering was allegedly committed by receiving money banked into Bersatu’s account. - Mkini
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