KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin has filed an application to strike out the four counts of abuse of power he was charged with last month.
The application, which was filed in the High Court today, also called for his acquittal.
In the alternative, the Bersatu president wants all proceedings in the sessions court, where he was charged, to be stayed pending the outcome of the striking-out application.
Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, when contacted, said they had received the unsealed copies of the application via email this afternoon.
“We will respond when sealed copies are presented to us,” he told FMT.
In the application, filed by Messrs Chetan Jethwani & Company, Muhyiddin said the charges did not disclose any offence under Section 23 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act.
The Pagoh MP said the charges were also an abuse of process and lacking in particulars as to how he abused his power as prime minister between March 2020 and August 2021.
The charges were in relation to the Jana Wibawa programme to allegedly obtain RM232.5 million for his political party, Bersatu.
On March 10, Muhyiddin pleaded not guilty after the charges were read out to him in the sessions court here before judge Azura Alwi.
Muhyiddin, who is also the Perikatan Nasional chairman, is alleged to have committed the four abuse of power offences at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya between Feb 8 and Aug 20, 2021.
On the first count, he is said to have used his office to obtain a RM200,000 bribe from a company for his party.
On the second count, he is alleged to have received RM1 million for his party from Nepturis Sdn Bhd.
For the third charge, he is said to have received RM19.5 million from Mamfor Sdn Bhd.
He is also accused of accepting RM12 million from businessman Azman Yusoff.
The Jana Wibawa programme was introduced in November 2020 by the Muhyiddin-led government as a Covid-19 stimulus initiative to help Bumiputera contractors.
It became mired in controversy after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the costs were too high for some projects that had been approved without going through a tender process.