KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court today allowed an application by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for a temporary release of his passport to enable him to visit his cancer-stricken sister in Australia.

Judge Azura Alwi, in granting the application, ordered the passport to be returned to the former prime minister today and to be returned on May 28.

Earlier, Muhyiddin's lawyer Datuk Hisyam Teh Poh Teik applied for the temporary release of Muhyiddin's passport to enable him to travel to Australia on May 12 to visit his 82-year-old sister who is suffering from cancer.

"The applicant (Muhyiddin) will return to Malaysia on May 25, therefore the passport will be returned to the court on May 28. I request the passport to be handed over to the lawyer representing the applicant, Tang Jia Yearn, and she (Tang) will return it to the court," he said.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Nor Asma Ahmad did not oppose the application considering the reasons presented in the affidavit were reasonable.

During the same proceedings, Hisyam applied for the proceedings of the case involving abuse of power and money laundering faced by the Bersatu president to be postponed, pending the decision of the application to obtain leave to review the decision made by the previous panel of judges, which will be heard in the Court of Appeal on July 9.

"We have filed the postponement application yesterday and asked for it to be heard first," said the lawyer.

Nor Asma said the prosecution had received the notice of the application via email yesterday and will file an affidavit opposing the application.

Azura then set June 13 to hear the application to postpone the proceedings.

Muhyiddin, 76, was charged with using his position as the then Prime Minister and Bersatu president to obtain bribes amounting to RM232.5 million from three companies, namely Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd and Mamfor Sdn Bhd, and also from one Datuk Azman Yusoff, for the party.

He was charged with committing the offences at the Prime Minister's Office, Bangunan Perdana Putra, Federal Government Administration Centre in Putrajaya between March 1, 2020, and Aug 20, 2021.

In addition to the four charges, Muhyiddin was also charged with two counts of receiving proceeds from unlawful activities amounting to RM195 million from Bukhary Equity which was deposited into Bersatu's CIMB Bank account.

The offences were allegedly committed at CIMB Bank Menara KL Branch, Jalan Stesen Sentral, here, between Feb 25 and July 16, 2021, and between Feb 8 and July 8, 2022.

Muhyiddin was also charged at the Shah Alam Sessions Court on March 13 last year with receiving money from illegal activities amounting to RM5 million, and the case had been transferred to the Sessions Court here for a joint trial.

-- BERNAMA