KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 — Former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today expressed relief after the High Court decided to acquit him on four charges involving Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd.

Thanking his lawyers and also expressing gratitude to Allah on his acquittal, Muhyiddin said: “And Alhamdulillah, that decision is a decision that I really welcome, feel relieved as from the start I am of the view that I am innocent. 

“So thank you to all who have prayed for my acquittal today,” he told reporters when met at the court complex here.

Muhyiddin expressed hope that he would also be freed of the remaining three charges that he is still facing in this trial.

“Praylah, hopefully the remaining charges that are still outstanding, which today have completed trial, soon there will be submissions in court, and I hope that I am also freed from the other remaining charges,” he said. 

Earlier today, the prosecution applied to the High Court to temporarily release Muhyiddin from four of the seven charges in this trial after evaluating the case as a whole, and applied for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on just the four charges.

Muhyiddin’s lawyers had urged for Muhyiddin to be acquitted on those four charges instead.

After considering arguments from both sides, the High Court decided that Muhyiddin should be acquitted instead of merely given a DNAA for those four charges.

High Court judge Noor Ruwena Md Nurdin said this was because the prosecution did not give any reasons besides saying it did not wish to proceed with the four charges, and that the prosecution had left it to the court to decide.

“I’m of the view in the interests of justice, the discretion of the court is to be exercised in favour of the accused,” the judge said. 

“So with that, the court discharges and acquits the accused from those four charges only. And we will continue with this case, with the three remaining charges related to Jana Wibawa,” the judge had said.

This afternoon, the prosecution closed its case on the three charges after calling in 29 prosecution witnesses over more than 30 days of hearing.

The High Court has scheduled November 26, December 1 to 3 to hear submissions from the prosecution and Muhyiddin’s lawyers on whether the former PM will have to defend himself in this case.

In this trial, Muhyiddin is now facing only three charges of power abuse involving RM25.3 million in alleged bribes for his party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (from Nepturis Sdn Bhd, Datuk Seri Azman Yusoff, KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd and Mamfor Sdn Bhd).