Four power abuse charges against Muhyiddin should be dismissed - Lawyer

KUALA LUMPUR - The defence team, on behalf of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, told the High Court here on Tuesday that all the charges against the former prime minister, did not disclose the details of the offense in accordance with the law.

Lawyer Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik argued it during the hearing proceedings of the application by the Bersatu president to cancel four charges of misuse of power for bribes worth RM232.5 million for the party in front of Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin.

Hisyam, representing the Pagoh MP, said without any disclosure, the four charges against his client should be dismissed.

He said the matter caused Muhyiddin to guess and make speculations regarding the charges of misuse of power.

Hisyam said it was clearly an abuse of the justice process by the prosecution; even the concept of the judicial process was violated as it was done hastily and as the basic rules of justice were not followed.

"This caused my client not to receive accurate instructions from the lawyers, indirectly impairing defence preparations," he said.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said there was no violation of rights against the Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman as stipulated in Article 8(1) of the Federal Constitution.

He said Muhyiddin was given the same procedures as other cases, so no discrimination issues would arise.

"The main issue that must be considered is the element under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act included in the charges, which is the matter of the application having been met and compiled with instead of the manner in which the element was achieved.

"it is premature to argue about how the offence should be explained when the evidence from the witness has not yet been heard," he said.

Muhyiddin filed a motion to dismiss the charges on April 18 by naming the public prosecutor as the respondent.

He requested to be released and acquitted of all four charges that were brought against him on March 10, in addition to wanting the proceedings in the Sessions Court to be postponed.

Through a supporting affidavit filed with the motion notice, Muhyiddin claimed that four accusations were flawed and legally invalid because they contradicted Section 152 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and none of them revealed an offence under Section 23(1) of the MACC Act.

On March 10, Muhyiddin pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court here on four charges of abusing his position for bribes worth RM232.5 million and two money laundering charges of RM195 million between 2020 and 2022.

Following this case, Muhyiddin became the second prime minister after Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be accused of the same section in court.

On March 13, Muhyiddin was charged with the seventh charge in the Shah Alam Sessions Court as the Bersatu president receiving proceeds of illegal activities, namely RM5 million from Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, deposited into the party's AmBank account.

The case was then transferred to the Sessions Court here to be tried together.

The proceedings continued at 2.30pm today, with the prosecution presenting arguments for the case.