KUALA LUMPUR - The accounts of former premier Muhyiddin Yassin’s party have been frozen as Malaysia’s graft buster widened its dragnet over an alleged misappropriation during the Perikatan Nasional (PN) chief’s 18-month tenure.
Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s accounts were frozen a fortnight ago as the party is being probed, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Azam Baki was quoted as saying in The Star on Wednesday.
An anti-graft official, who did not want to be named, said: “It is a big investigation, so it’s necessary for the MACC to freeze the accounts while we study all the transactions that went on to see if there are any irregularities.
“If there are, we will identify every person we need to call up to assist us with our probe.”
Tan Sri Azam said the investigation into Bersatu is unrelated to a probe into the alleged misappropriation of Covid-19 stimulus package funds by Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s government during the pandemic. He declined to elaborate further.
Last December, MACC said it would look into an alleged misappropriation of RM600 billion (S$184.7 billion) of funds by the former administration led by Mr Muhyiddin’s PN coalition.
It said the focus remains on the RM92.5 billion spent as stimulus during the pandemic, as these initiatives were fast-tracked because of pressing needs during nationwide lockdowns.
Graft busters raided eight government agencies and nine companies last December after investigations found they had received what a source told The Straits Times was a “huge allocation” from the stimulus packages approved by the government in 2020 and 2021.
On Jan 7, a close associate of Mr Muhyiddin was nabbed over his alleged role in brokering government projects in exchange for bribes.
MACC’s probe has been expanded to all government expenditure across his tenure, and to the past two administrations.
Bersatu secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin on Wednesday accused the ruling administration of using a government agency as a tool to “kill” the party and PN’s credibility.
Calling it a “sleazy” strategy, Datuk Seri Hamzah said: “Bersatu can accept the reason behind the measure taken by the MACC, as part of their investigation process against the defamation thrown at the party. The party will continue to cooperate in the investigation so that malicious slander against the party can be stopped immediately.”
Mr Muhyiddin was Malaysia’s prime minister from March 2020 to August 2021 before he was replaced by Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob, whose party is now a member of the unity government.
In early December 2022, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim halted flood mitigation projects worth RM7 billion that had been approved that year under Datuk Seri Ismail.
He also ordered a review of Malaysia’s state-owned 5G network that is now being rolled out, saying its formulation lacked transparency.
