KUALA LUMPUR – In rejecting former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s bid to reinstate his discharge and acquittal, the Court of Appeal also confirmed that it has the right to hear challenges against decisions made by the high court in its revisionary capacity.
In their judgement summary, the Court of Appeal pointed out that Muhyiddin made attempts to argue that a previous high court decision on August 18, 2023, acquitting him from four bribery charges related to the Jana Wibawa programme, was not made in its “appellate or revisionary” jurisdiction.
Muhyiddin’s contention was based on the fact that the high court ruling on the matter did not concern any challenge to a lower court decision.
Thus, Muhyiddin submitted, that the appeals court on February 28 this year had no right to hear the prosecution’s challenge against the high court’s decision to acquit.
However, the Court of Appeal disagreed and ruled that the high court decision on August 18 last year was made in their revisionary capacity which is intended to correct or prevent a miscarriage of justice.
“When the high court judge invoked (its) inherent jurisdiction to strike out criminal charges and acquit the applicant (Muhyiddin), the judge was exercising revisionary powers by reviewing the legality of those charges,” the judgement summary said.
Furthermore, by arguing that the high court decision was not made in its revisionary capacity, the appellate court took the view that Muhyidin interpreted the law literally, which could lead to absurd consequences not intended by Parliament.
The Court of Appeal said such an interpretation would allow the high court to have unlimited jurisdiction that could not be challenged.
“If the applicant is correct that there can be no appeal against the decision of the learned judge in dismissing the charges and acquitting the applicant, it would simply mean that the high court has an unlimited jurisdiction to quash a criminal charge and acquit an accused person without trial,” the judgement summary explained.
Earlier today, a five-judge panel at the Court of Appeal rejected a review application by Muhyiddin to reinstate his discharge and acquittal on four abuse of power charges related to the Jana Wibawa project today.
The decision would mean the Perikatan Nasional chairman will continue to stand trial for the charges related to RM232.5 million in bribes for Bersatu at the Kuala Lumpur sessions court.
Muhyiddin, as prime minister and president of Bersatu at the time, was charged with using his position to obtain RM232.5 million in bribes from Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd, Mamfor Sdn Bhd and Datuk Azman Yusoff for his political party.
He is accused of committing the act at the Prime Minister’s Office, Bangunan Perdana Putra, Federal Government Administration Centre in Putrajaya between March 1, 2020, and August 20, 2021.
He faces two additional charges of receiving RM195 million gained from illegal activities from Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, which was deposited into Bersatu’s CIMB Bank account.
These acts were allegedly committed at CIMB Bank, Menara KL Branch, Jalan Stesen Sentral between February 25 and July 16, 2021, and between February 8 and July 8, 2022. – September 11, 2024