Malaysia Ex-PM Muhyiddin Charged with Corruption, Laundering
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was charged Friday with corruption and money laundering, making him Malaysia’s second ex-leader to be indicted after leaving office.
Muhyiddin, 75, pleaded innocent to four charges of abusing his power to obtain 232.5 million ringgit ($51.4 million) bribes for his party and two charges of money laundering involving 195 million ringgit ($43 million). His party said he is expected to face an additional charge on Monday.
Muhyiddin vowed to clear his name, slamming the charges as an “evil slander” to embarrass him and crush his Islamic-dominated opposition ahead of state elections. He denied abusing his power to award contracts to selected ethnic Malay contractors in return for bribes, and to approve an appeal by a business tycoon on the cancellation of his tax exemption.
Muhyiddin was first arrested Thursday and released later in the day by the anti-graft agency, which questioned him a second time over government stimulus projects for Malay contractors during the COVID-19 pandemic, AP reported.
Muhyiddin was the second former leader to be charged after ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was hit with multiple charges after he lost in 2018 general elections. Najib began a 12-year prison term in August after losing his final appeal in the first of several graft trials related to the looting of the 1MDB state development fund.
If Muhyiddin is found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the corruption charges, 15 years each for money laundering and fines.