Malaysia’s ex-PM Muhyiddin Yassin charged with corruption
Former leader faces charges of money laundering and abuse of power related to COVID-19 contracts.
Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has been charged with abuse of power and money laundering in connection with awarding government contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Muhyiddin, who led the country through its worst pandemic from March 2020, pleaded not guilty to the six charges in court in Kuala Lumpur on Friday morning.
The charges were brought after Muhyiddin was questioned for hours on Thursday by investigators from Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency about a government aid program his government introduced to help contractors during the coronavirus lockdown.
He faces four cases of abuse of power involving 232.5 million ringgit ($51.40 million) and two cases of money laundering involving 195 million ringgit.
Muhyiddin, whose ethnic Malaysian coalition dominated the Perikatan Nasional (PN), lost a hard-fought election to Anwar Ibrahim’s multi-ethnic rival in November, calling the investigation politically motivated.
He is the second former leader to be charged with corruption after Najib Razak, who was prime minister until May 2018, when his once-dominant Barisan Nasional coalition under the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) first lost power amid popular outcry over the multibillion dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB.
Najib began serving a 12-year prison sentence on 1MDB-related charges last August after Malaysia’s highest court rejected his latest appeal. He is also facing a number of other cases related to alleged misconduct at the fund.
Muhyiddin, who was a long-time member of UMNO before quitting over the 1MDB scandal, faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of money laundering, and up to 20 years for abuse of power and could also be fined.
Dozens of people gathered at the court to show their support for Muhyiddin wearing some bandanas emblazoned with the word “Abah” (father), as Muhyiddin called himself during the pandemic. Older colleagues from his Bersatu party were also present at the court.
Hamzah Zainuddin, the party’s general secretary and former interior minister, told reporters outside court that the allegations amounted to “selective prosecution”.
“(Muhyiddin) is not involved at all,” Hamzah said. “Many people give money to the party.”
Muhyiddin was granted bail of 2 million Malaysian ringgit ($442,674) by the judge and asked to surrender his passport.
Muhyiddin became Prime Minister of Malaysia after an internal power struggle within the reformist coalition that came to power in May 2018.
He imposed a strict COVID-19 lockdown weeks after taking office and attempted to enforce a state of emergency amid questions about the true extent of his support in parliament.
Amid continued jostling for power and a resurgence of COVID-19, he finally resigned in August 2021 after 17 months in power and was replaced by UMNO’s Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
UMNO, led by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, is now part of Anwar’s coalition, although Zahid himself is on trial for corruption.