Is Muhyiddin’s DNAA “cleansing” a tell-tale sign of Bersatu making comeback as PH ally?

 

THE cyberspace was abuzz with Bersatu inching closer to join the Pakatan Harapan (PH) fold after PM8 Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was yesterday (Sept 15) granted a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) on four out of seven charges related to the Jana Wibawa project which court hearing commenced on March 10, 2023.

As political pundits jibed that “whoever supports PMX will eventually be freed”, graft haters demonised Madani’s vow of combating corruption to its root which has become apparently rhetorical.

For context, the Kuala Lumpur High Court had yesterday (Sept 15) discharged and acquitted the Bersatu president of three counts of money laundering and one abuse of power charge involving RM200 mil related to Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd.

High Court judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin freed Muhyiddin of the charges after deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Datuk Akram Ahmad Gharib applied for a DNAA under Section 254(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).

Editor’s Note: Section 254(1) of the CPC states that at any stage of a trial before a judgment is delivered, the public prosecutor may inform the court that they will not prosecute the charge further, hence stopping all proceedings on that charge and resulting in the discharge of the accused.

However, the trial will proceed for the remaining three abuse of power charges involving RM25.3 mil in alleged bribes for Pagoh MP’s Bersatu party.

In ridiculing the Madani administration for its “excellence in granting DNAAs”, a critical former  economy minister Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli envisages “two reactions to this decision”.

“First: the record of DNAA awards under the administration of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in major corruption cases is indeed excellent,” chided the de facto leader/co-head of BERSAMA.

Besides Muhyiddin, UMNO president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is one of the previous recipients of the DNAA award.

Future generations will remember PMX’s administration as an excellent provider of DNAAs that freed the country’s top political leaders from corruption cases.

The second reaction, according to the former PKR deputy president, is that pertaining to the frozen BERSATU account which is reported to amount to hundreds of millions of ringgit.

Elections are getting closer with BERSATU having already lost much political leverage. What’s left is the hundreds of millions in funds that can now be challenged to be returned to Bersatu.

What I’m sure of is that the PKR and PH cybertroopers who scream “sakau, sakau, sakau” (plunderers) and boasting about claiming they oppose corruption will be left disappointed at the end of the day with not a single cent from that hundreds of millions in funds.

This is when political commentator Datuk Dr Sivasampoh Kannikuddy demanded the Attorney-General Chambers (AGC) to explain why did the DPP give up on pursing the four charges against Muhyiddin.

“Silence will only destroy public confidence in equal justice,” he asserted.

“This is not a minor procedural matter. Why did the prosecution abandon serious money-laundering and abuse of power charges after the trial had begun? What change and who authorised this decision?”

To a question if the “AGC can be investigated? ”, the good governance advocate rrplied in the affirmative:

“Yes, the AGC can be investigated – that is precisely why the prosecution’s decision to seek Muhyiddin’s acquittal must be independently examined and fully explained to the rakyat.”

As to the rife speculation of Bersatu forging alliance with the ruling PH alliance, one commenter reckoned that this is a “lose-lose situation”.

“If this is ‘in exchange’ for Bersatu joining PH in GE16 (16th General Election), then Guru miscalculated badly. Bersatu is over as a political part, and it will just alienate his (PMX’s) own base even more.”

The bottom-line is, as deftly pointed out by a commenter in Rafizi’s post, PMX is likely to wash his hand by answering:

“All this falls under the purview of the Attorney-General (AG). I don’t interfere. Look, when the AG made the decision, I was in Kerala (part of his five-day India/Maldives working visit from Sept 11-15 so I wasn’t in a way involved.” 

 - Focus Malaysia