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Muhyiddin, 75, pleaded guilty to four counts of abusing his position to obtain 232.5 million ringgit ($51.4 million) in bribes for his political party and two charges of money laundering involving 195 million ringgit ($43 million). His party said he was expected to face additional charges on Monday.
Muhyiddin has vowed to clear himself of the charges, slamming the allegations as “evil slander”, embarrassing him and crushing his Islamist-led opposition ahead of state elections. He denies abusing his position to award contracts to selected ethnic Malay contractors in exchange for bribes, and denies approving an appeal by a business tycoon to revoke the tax exemption.
Muhyiddin was first arrested on Thursday and released later in the day by the anti-graft agency, which questioned him a second time about the government’s stimulus program for Malay contractors amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Associated Press reported.
Muhyiddin is the second former leader to be charged after former prime minister Najib Razak, who faced multiple charges following his defeat in the 2018 general election. Najib began his 12-year sentence in August after losing a final appeal in the first of several graft trials related to the looting of 1MDB’s state development fund.
If found guilty, Muhyiddin faces up to 20 years in prison for each corruption charge and 15 years for each money laundering charge and fine.
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