Muhyiddin acquitted of RM200 mil Bukhary Equity power abuse, money laundering charges

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Kritik
16 Sep 2026
30
SubCategory | Political Debates

Muhyiddin acquitted of RM200 mil Bukhary Equity power abuse, money laundering charges

By Timothy Achariam

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 15): The High Court on Tuesday discharged and acquitted former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin of three counts of money laundering and one abuse of power charge involving RM200 million related to Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd.

High Court judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin freed Muhyiddin of the charges after deputy public prosecutor Datuk Akram Ahmad Gharib applied for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) under Section 254(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).

"The prosecution applies to invoke Section 254(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), requesting a court order for the accused to be discharged not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA). We request a DNAA only for those specific charges (the Bukhary Equity charges), Your Honour,” he said.

“The prosecution’s application is limited strictly to those charges and does not apply to any other charges.”

Akram did not give any reason for withdrawing the charges, a fact that Noor Ruwena cited when granting a full acquittal, as allowed for under subsection 3 of Section 254 of the CPC.

She added that no witnesses or evidence related to these charges had been presented to the court.

“Therefore, I am of the view that in the interest of justice, the discretion of the court is to be in favour of the accused, and that is to order him to be discharged and acquitted from the first charge in case number 13, discharged and acquitted on the two charges in case number 14, and discharged and acquitted from the charge in case number 15,” Noor Ruwena said in her decision.

However, the trial will proceed for the remaining three abuse of power charges involving RM25.3 million in alleged bribes for Muhyiddin's Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

The former prime minister had claimed trial to abuse of power in 2023 for allegedly soliciting RM200 million from Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd. He was also charged with three counts of money laundering for the funds being allegedly deposited into Bersatu's accounts.

Muhyiddin’s lawyer argues case should be dropped as prosecution 'uninterested'

Before the decision, Muhyiddin’s counsel, Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Taik, argued that the prosecution seemed to have no interest in pursuing the charges.

He said the prosecution had to close its case today but the defence had not received any evidence or witness statements.

“It’s very clear and obvious that the prosecution is no longer interested in these charges to proceed further. Today is probably the second last day of the trial and not a single shred of evidence was produced and no witness statements served on us by the prosecution in respect of these four charges,” he said.

Hisyam had asked the court to acquit Muhyiddin, citing the prosecution’s loss of interest in the charges and Akram not providing a clear reason for the DNAA application.

“What’s most important is no cogent reasons advanced by the prosecution why they wanted a DNAA, and the law is very clear: strong reasons must be given. Otherwise, the court has no choice whatsoever but to grant discharge amounting to an acquittal,” he said.

The abuse of power charges

One of the four abuse of power charges brought against Muhyiddin on March 10, 2023 is related to Bukhary Equity.

The other three charges are related to the Jana Wibawa programme, a stimulus package meant to help Bumiputera contractors hit by the construction slowdown during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Muhyiddin was alleged to have abused his power as the then prime minister and Bersatu president to obtain RM25.3 million in gratification for his party from companies Nepturis Sdn Bhd and Mamfor Sdn Bhd and businessman Datuk Azman Yusoff.

All the abuse of power charges were initially struck out by the High Court in August 2023 but reinstated by the Court of Appeal in February 2024, and the trial is now proceeding in the High Court.

Source: https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/818180

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