Malaysian former PM Muhyiddin Yassin charged with abuse of power, money laundering

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin pleaded not guilty Friday as a local court charged him with multiple counts of abuse of power and money laundering linked to a COVID-19 relief program that his government implemented during the pandemic. 

The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court charged the 75-year-old opposition leader and head of the Bersatu party with four counts of abuse of power to solicit bribes worth 232.5 million ringgit (U.S. $51.3 million) and two counts of involvement in laundering 195 million ringgit (43 million) in money, according to a charge sheet. 

To loud cheers from a crowd of his supporters, Muhyiddin appeared at the courthouse the morning after Malaysia’s anti-graft agency arrested him for alleged corruption and later released him on bail. 

Muhyiddin and his supporters accuse the government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of malice in going after him and officials in his party over allegations of corruption, months after the bloc headed by Muhyiddin lost out to Anwar’s coalition in a bitterly contested general election.

“I was accused of abusing the power of the Prime Minister to appoint Bumiputera contractors for the Jana Wibawa Project. I deny this accusation,” Muhyiddin told reporters at the courthouse after he was charged. “I do not have any authority to approve these projects. All of these projects have been approved by the Ministry of Finance in accordance with valid procurement rules and procedures.

“I was also accused of abusing [my] authority to approve the Tax Exemption Cancellation Appeal by the Al-Bukhary Foundation sponsored by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary. I deny this allegation,” he said. “The approval of this tax exemption appeal is made by the Finance Ministry and I do not have any authority to approve it.

The indictment of Muhyiddin marks the second time in five years that a former Malaysian prime minister has been charged for corruption-related offenses. Last August, former leader Najib Razak was sent to prison for 12 years over the 1MDB financial scandal, which brought down his government four years earlier.

Muhyiddin could face up to 20 years and five years in prison on each count, respectively, if prosecuted and convicted of abuse of power and money laundering.

Wearing a light blue-and-white striped shirt open at the collar with a dark suit, Muhyiddin appeared calm and waved at hundreds of his supporters who were waiting for him outside the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex when he arrived at 8:30 a.m.

He was accompanied by his wife, Norainee Abdul Rahman, Bersatu Secretary General Hamzah Zainuddin, and party youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, among others.

At Friday’s hearing, Sessions Court Judge Azura Alwi set Muhyiddin’s bail at 2 million ringgit  (U.S. $442,086) and ordered the ex-PM to surrender his passport until the conclusion of the case.

Muhyiddin was placed under arrest on Thursday afternoon at the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission after being summoned there to answer questions about its investigation into funds cleared by his government under the so-called Empowerment of Bumiputera Contractor Program (Jana Wibawa).

Muhyiddin served as prime minister from March 2020 until he resigned in August 2021, a period that covered the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Southeast Asian country.

The Jana Wibawa program was introduced by Muhyiddin’s administration to expedite the implementation of projects to help members of Malaysia’s ethnic Malay majority and boost the country’s economy during and after the outbreak. The program also aimed to enhance the capacity of Bumiputera/Malay contractors in the construction industry to be more competitive and resilient.

Last year, Prime Minister Anwar ordered a review of the billion-ringgit government projects approved by Muhyiddin, including COVID-19 aid programs, accusing him of not following proper procedures.

“Well, this is about me, not about the contractors,” Muhyiddin told reporters on Friday. 

“For Jana Wibawa, as you know, is a project that was approved by the cabinet, to help Bumiputera’s contractors who were heavily impacted by COVID-19, and that was approved by the cabinet and has been implemented. I don’t agree with the accusations and that is the situation,” he said.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Anwar refuted allegations from the Bersatu camp that the investigation into his political nemesis Muhyiddin was politically motivated.

“I would like to stress here that all who want the country to be clear of corruption must look at cases one by one and see if it is true that these were politically motivated charges, as they have been saying, or are based on fact,” Anwar told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.