Ismail Sabri Yaakob, 66, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, has been charged with failing to declare assets worth tens of millions of dollars, becoming the third former premier of the country to face criminal charges after leaving office. The hearing took place at the Kuala Lumpur court on Thursday, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of violating asset declaration rules with the anti-corruption agency.
According to the indictment, he is accused of concealing assets worth about $40 million, distributed across nine currencies, along with gold and silver bars.
His lawyer, Amer Hamzah Arshad, said the charge is essentially non-compliance with an asset declaration notice. He said: “We will study the charge and have informed the court that we raise some concerns about the correctness and legality of the charge, but we will not go into details here.”
The judge set bail at 300,000 ringgit (about $74,000) and rejected the request to confiscate his passport, citing no flight risk. Ismail will return to court on September 29. If convicted, he faces a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Ismail Sabri served as Malaysia's Prime Minister for 15 months, from August 2021 to November 2022, the shortest tenure in the country's history. In March last year, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said he had submitted a asset declaration after being requested as part of an investigation into alleged corruption and money laundering.
He is the third former prime minister to be prosecuted in recent years over alleged corruption activities. Previously, former Prime Minister Najib Razak is serving a six-year prison sentence after being convicted in the scandal involving state investment fund 1MDB, and faces other trials. Another former prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, is also on trial for corruption and money laundering charges.
