Bersatu will know on Oct 30 whether it obtains civil court leave to proceed with the opposition party’s judicial review over MACC’s seizure of its two bank accounts.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court this afternoon set the decision date after hearing oral submissions from the political party’s counsel Rosli Dahlan as well as the respondent - MACC’s legal representative, senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan.
Today was set for hearing of Bersatu’s judicial review leave application before judge Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid.
In the event the civil court grants leave, then it would later set a separate date to hear the merits of the judicial review over the account seizure.
Ahmad Kamal was also the one who back in May 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 legal actions on both the MACC’s freezing of the accounts as well as the seizure are both being presided on by the civil court judge.
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, 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 contended 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 pleaded not guilty 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.
Personal bank accounts
The 76-year-old is accused of abusing his powers for Bersatu to receive RM120 million of proceeds from illegal activities 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.
According to Bank Negara Malaysia’s official web portal, money laundering is a process of converting cash, funds, or property derived from alleged criminal activities to give it a legitimate appearance.
However, on Aug 15, a separate Kuala Lumpur High Court nullified the abuse of power charges against Muhyiddin and acquitted the former premier, ruling that the charges were defective under law.
The prosecution has since appealed to the Court of Appeal to reverse this verdict.
However, the money laundering charges against Muhyiddin are still pending before the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court. - Mkini
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