KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 7): The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) has rejected representations by former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to have seven criminal charges against him to be withdrawn. The charges involve abuse of power and money laundering linked to RM232.5 million in bribes.
Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin informed the High Court of the decision during case mention before High Court judge K Muniandy on Tuesday.
“The prosecution received the representation from the defence on Aug 19, 2025, and we informed them that the AGC had decided to reject it on Aug 22,” Wan Shaharuddin said.
He added that the prosecution is ready to proceed to trial in January next year, with witness statements already prepared.
Muhyiddin, who was excused from attending the proceedings, was represented by senior counsels Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik and Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad.
Hisyam requested that the trial be scheduled for May or June instead, citing the need for more time to review the witness statements. Amer confirmed that while the defence had received the list of witnesses, it is still waiting for the statements to prepare its case.
The court has fixed Nov 10 for case management to finalise the trial dates, and allowed the defence’s request for Muhyiddin’s absence to be excused on that day.
Muhyiddin, 78, who at the material time was the sitting prime minister, faces four counts of abuse of power for allegedly soliciting RM232.5 million in bribes for his party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), from several entities — Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd, Mamfor Sdn Bhd, and Datuk Azman Yusoff.
The alleged offences were committed between March 2020 and August 2021 at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya, linked to the government’s Jana Wibawa programme.
The Pagoh member of Parliament also faces three charges of receiving RM200 million in proceeds from unlawful activities from Bukhary Equity, purportedly deposited into Bersatu’s accounts at AmBank and CIMB Bank between early 2021 and mid-2022.
While the details of the representation were not given in court, it is understood that the representation letter sent to the AGC drew attention to past court cases which held that acceptance of political donations was not an offence.
In particular, the letter cited court cases involving former federal territories minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, and former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
Umno treasurer Tengku Adnan, known as Ku Nan, was in July 2021 acquitted by the Court of Appeal (COA) for receiving RM2 million when serving in the Cabinet. Syed Saddiq was acquitted by the COA in June of two charges involving funds totalling RM1.12 million, although the prosecution is appealing the case.
While Ku Nan and Syed Saddiq had both received donations in their personal accounts, Muhyiddin did not have the funds flow through his personal accounts — instead, all donations went to Bersatu's party accounts.
It is understood that the representation also mentioned former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who has not been charged, although the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has recovered RM176 million in cash from various safe houses.
The representation further drew attention to MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki's statement in 2017 that the MACC had no purview over political funding and that it was not an offence.
In June, Muhyiddin’s application to move the case to the High Court was allowed, as the preceding judge, Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin, said he believed the constitutional issues were “of extraordinary difficulty” and thought it would be faster for the High Court to handle them.
The Perikatan Nasional chairman was brought to court in 2023.