Ex-Malay PM's ally acquitted of money laundering charges

Kuala Lumpur

A former ally of Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak, accused of multiple counts of money laundering and corruption, was acquitted on Tuesday after the prosecution applied to withdraw all charges.

Musa Aman, former Chief Minister of Borneo state, was acquitted of all 46 charges against him involving logging concessions in Sabah and money laundering, reports Xinhua news agency.

A Kuala Lumpur High Court granted an application by the prosecutors to withdraw all the charges during case management on Tuesday.

The 69-year-old Musa faced 30 charges of corruption and 16 charges of money laundering after stepping down following the general elections in 2018.

The corruption charges alleged that Musa in his capacity as chief minister and chairman of a foundation, had received $50.1 million from eight logging concessionaires as an inducement to approve logging concessions for 16 companies.

He had pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In a statement following the decision, Musa maintained his innocence.

The former Prime Minister, who faces 42 corruption charges, and his wife are accused of siphoning millions of dollars to their private accounts from the state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The 66-year-old leader, who was in office between 2009 and 2018, allegedly appropriated about 2.6 billion ringgit, according to a media investigation carried out in 2015.

Three of the five proposed trials against Razak are already underway over charges of corruption, abuse of power and money laundering.