Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin acquitted of four graft charges

Kuala Lumpur, August 15

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was acquitted by the high court of four corruption charges on Tuesday, just days after his opposition bloc expanded its influence in local elections.

Muhyiddin, 76, said the high court ruled in favour of his application to overturn four charges of abusing his power to obtain 232.5 million ringgit ($50 million) in bribes for his Bersatu party.

He was charged in March and still faces three charges of money laundering involving 200 million ringgit ($43 million).

“From the start, I have said that these are politically motivated charges. I have not done anything wrong…and today it has been proven that these were false allegations,” he told reporters outside the courthouse.

His lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, said the court agreed with the defense contention that the charges were defective legally and lacked details on how the offenses were committed.

With the collapse of the four main charges, Teh said they were confident the other three money-laundering charges would not stand.

The graft charges revolved around the award of contracts to selected ethnic Malay contractors allegedly in return for bribes, and approving an appeal by a business tycoon over the cancellation of his tax exemption.