Muhyiddin’s Ex-Employee Charged with CBT

747
- Advertisement - [resads_adspot id="2"]

A couple was today charged with siphoning more than RM600,000 from Yayasan Nurul Yakeen (YNY) which belongs to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Fathil Asri/NST

Mimi Khairani Baharudin, 35, who was a former executive at YNY and her husband Mohd Shaufik Ariffin, 37, claimed trial to all money laundering offences when they were jointly charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.

The couple was jointly accused of using RM274,408 of proceeds which they obtained from an unlawful activity between December 2012 and May 2015.

Shafiq, who works as an accounts clerk, was slapped with another 17 charges of using, receiving, and disposing monies totalling RM384,660 allegedly from the foundation between 2015 and 2018.

The duo were charged under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, Anti-Terrorism Financing Act and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLATFPUAA) 2001.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Farid Ahmad Kamal urged the court to set RM5 million and RM750,000 bail against Shafiq and Mimi Khairani respectively.

However, the accused who were represented by Norizawani Ahmad Jalaludin pleaded for minimum bail.

“Shafiq is now the sole breadwinner in the family while Mimi Khairani is a fulltime housewife. She is also five months’ pregnant,” she said.

Judge Hasbullah Adam then set RMRM700,000 bail for Shafiq and RM105,000 for Mimi Khairani respectively.

The court also fixed July 13 for mention.

It is learnt the couple is also expected to face further charges in another state soon.

It was reported that RM2.6 million of the foundation funds had allegedly been siphoned.

The funds were allegedly transferred from YNY to third party accounts between 2015 and 2018 without the consent of the foundation’s board of trustees.

The suspect connected to the offence was reported to have resigned from the charity-based foundation on Jan 23, 2019, just as an internal audit was carried out.

The audit found that the woman had committed criminal breach of trust and had acquired cash assets without permission from the board of trustees.

Upon learning of the losses, Muhyiddin’s son Datuk Fakhri Yassin lodged a police report at the Wangsa Maju police station on behalf of the foundation’s board of trustees.

The case was subsequently referred to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.