Prosecution seeks joint trial for Muhyiddin

KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution is seeking for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s four charges of abuse of power and three charges of money laundering to be jointly heard in the same trial at the Sessions Court.

Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin informed Sessions Court judge Azura Alwi that the prosecution filed its application on Thursday.

The prosecution handed over the application to the defence yesterday, he said, when the case was brought up for mention here.

Lawyer Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, who is representing the Bersatu president, confirmed that they had received the document but the defence would require time to file an affidavit-in-reply.

Azura then ordered the defence to file the affidavit by June 30, while the prosecution must respond to the affidavit by July 14.

The court was also informed that the prosecution sought for Muhyiddin’s case in the Shah Alam Sessions Court, where he is accused of receiving proceeds from illegal activities, to be transferred to the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib applied for the charge to be read again before Azura, to which Muhyiddin made a plea of not guilty again.

In the news: Muhyiddin (centre) arriving at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex. — Bernama

DPP Wan Shaharuddin also said the prosecution had handed over half of the documents relating to the case to the defence.

“The defence had filed several applications to the High Court whereby there are three applications to transfer the case to the High Court and one application to strike out the charges.

“Due to this, we sought a longer time for the next mention date, on Aug 4, to hand over the other half of the documents,” he added.

The court then fixed Aug 4 as the next mention date.

On March 10, Muhyiddin, 76, was charged with four charges involving abuse of power over a RM232.5mil bribe and two charges of receiving RM195mil which were proceeds from illegal activities.

He was again charged on March 13 at the Shah Alam Sessions Court where he was accused of one count of receiving RM5mil which were proceeds from illegal activities.

Muhyiddin then filed an application to strike out the charges on April 18.

On April 27, he filed four separate applications to transfer his cases to the High Court on the grounds the cases involved complex legal issues relating to the Federal Constitution.

The transfer applications and the striking-out application are set for mention at the High Court on May 31.