Malaysia’s former Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, has been charged on Friday with 45 Criminal Offences including Money laundering and graft amid a widening crackdown on corruption.
He was also charged with twenty-seven counts of laundering about 72 Million Ringgits ($17.3 million).
Each charge carries lengthy jail terms of up to twenty years, with fines of up to five times the value of the illegal transactions, for the money laundering and abuse of power offences.
The former Former deputy PM has pled not guilty to all charges.
Ahmad Zahid leads the opposition as president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the once-powerful party that ruled Malaysia for 60 years before being ousted in a shock general election defeat in May.
