KUALA LUMPUR - A third man linked to Malaysia’s former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin was charged on Wednesday with graft in relation to a Covid-19 stimulus programme started under the Muhyiddin administration, while another man was handed additional charges after being charged on Tuesday.
Adam Radlan Adam Muhammad, a leader in Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), was charged with two counts of receiving bribes amounting to RM4.1 million (S$1.2 million). Just a day before, he was charged with receiving a RM500,000 bribe and soliciting a cut of a deal from an infrastructure company.
As Adam’s charges were read out in Kuala Lumpur, another businessman with alleged links to Mr Muhyiddin was charged in Johor for allegedly soliciting bribes worth RM12.8 million.
Teo Wee Cheng, 65, was previously named a “close friend” of the former premier by one of the witnesses in Umno chief Zahid Hamidi’s graft trial in 2022.
On Tuesday, Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan was charged with accepting bribes worth RM6.9 million to help secure projects under the Jana Wibawa initiative.
All three men have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Wednesday’s charges balloon the value of the Jana Wibawa controversy to RM24.1 million, following an investigation by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission.
Jana Wibawa is one of several Covid-19 stimulus initiatives that came on the radar of the anti-graft body after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim claimed that funds were misused.
Mr Muhyiddin’s administration had initiated the programme to help bumiputera, or Malay-Muslim, contractors. Construction projects were awarded under this scheme through direct negotiation with the government, instead of a tender process.
Zahid, who is now deputy prime minister, said last week that Jana Wibawa projects worth RM5.7 billion have been halted pending a review of their procurement processes.
Mr Muhyiddin, who heads Malaysia’s opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN), has said the charges were a form of “selective persecution” meant to taint opposition leaders with graft charges at a time when several government leaders, including Zahid, are also facing graft trials.
Wan Saiful resigned as Bersatu information chief on Wednesday, but Mr Muhyiddin insisted the move was not an admission of guilt.
Mr Muhyiddin was prime minister between March 2020 until August 2021, and is the second-shortest serving premier in Malaysia. His premiership was almost entirely dominated by Malaysia’s struggles with the Covid 19 pandemic and a six-month-long state of emergency.
His PN coalition won 74 seats in Malaysia’s general election in 2022, which resulted in a hung Parliament. He had raced against Datuk Seri Anwar to stitch together a coalition to form a government, but Mr Anwar was ultimately appointed prime minister.
