In the party’s judicial review proceedings today against the attorney-general and MACC over the alleged unlawful seizure and freezing orders, Bersatu’s lawyer, Chetan Jethwani, told the High Court the party should be allowed access to its accounts with AmBank and CIMB Islamic Bank.
Chetan argued that this is because the money laundering charges were framed against Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin and not the party itself.
“The charges are all against Muhyiddin; they are not against Bersatu. The attorney-general’s consent to prosecute was against him,” he said.
MACC had frozen Bersatu’s two bank accounts in January 2023. It seized them in April 2023 a month after Muhyiddin was charged.
The former prime minister was charged with four counts of abuse of power and two charges of money laundering involving RM232.5 million and RM195 million, respectively.
Chetan submitted that the wrongful seizure orders had expired in January last year.
He said Section 52A of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 stipulates a 12-month expiry period for seizure or freezing orders if the person against whom the order was made has not been charged with an offence under the Act.
“Instead of releasing the bank accounts to Bersatu, MACC continued to wrongfully deprive Bersatu of access to its bank accounts,” he said.
In reply, senior federal counsel Nurhafizza Azizan said Bersatu cannot be charged on its own and that Muhyiddin had been charged in his capacity as the party president.
“The seizure has not expired because the charges have superseded it. Until and unless the judgment is announced, the subject matter cannot be disposed of here,” she said.
She said the High Court’s appellate and special powers division is not the proper forum to hear the matter and that Muhyiddin should instead bring the matter to the criminal court.
The hearing before Justice Aliza Sulaiman will continue at a later date.
On Oct 30, 2023, the High Court allowed Bersatu to challenge MACC’s seizure of the party’s bank accounts after finding that the application was neither frivolous nor vexatious.
However, the court rejected Bersatu’s application for interim access to its frozen accounts.