KUALA LUMPUR, 27 Aug 2026 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob pleaded not guilty on Thursday to failing to declare assets worth tens of millions of ringgit, including cash in 10 currencies and gold bars, to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
The 66-year-old Bera MP claimed trial after the charge was read before Sessions Court judge Suzana Hussin. He is the third former Malaysian prime minister to face a criminal charge, after Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Ismail Sabri is accused of wilfully giving a written statement on 7 February 2025 at MACC headquarters in Putrajaya that did not comply with a notice issued under Section 36(1)(a) of the MACC Act 2009. The notice was dated 7 January 2025 and served on him on 10 January 2025.
The charge is framed under Section 36(2) of the same Act. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years’ jail and a fine of up to RM100,000.
The assets allegedly omitted from the declaration include:
- RM14,772,150
- S$6,132,350
- US$1,461,400
- CHF 3 million
- €12,164,150
- ¥363 million
- £50,250
- NZ$44,600
- AED 34.75 million
- A$352,850
- five 1kg Suisse Fine gold bars
- one 100g Suisse Fine silver bar
- one 5g 999 gold coin
Those holdings have been valued at close to US$40 million.
Deputy public prosecutor Farah Ezlin Yusop Khan sought bail of RM500,000 and an order that Ismail Sabri surrender his passport, citing his status as a former prime minister and his international network.
Defence counsel Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad argued that bail is meant to secure attendance, not to punish, and that his client had never failed to attend MACC interviews.
Judge Suzana fixed bail at RM300,000 with one family surety. She refused the passport condition, finding no evidence that he was a flight risk. The case was fixed for mention on 29 September.
His son later settled the bail. Amer Hamzah said Ismail Sabri was recovering well after a leadless pacemaker was implanted at the National Heart Institute (IJN) earlier this month.
He had been due to be charged on 7 August, but the reading was postponed after he was admitted to IJN with suspected arrhythmia and underwent the pacemaker procedure that afternoon.
Outside court, Amer Hamzah said the team would study the charge and was raising concerns about its propriety and legality. He described it as peculiar because the cash and other items listed are already in government possession, after MACC forfeiture proceedings under Section 41 of the MACC Act. He said the prosecution had previously indicated there would be no criminal charge linked to the seized items.
The DPP replied that whether to charge remains a prosecutorial discretion.
MACC previously displayed about RM170 million in cash in various currencies and 16kg of gold bars, estimated at about RM7 million, seized from premises linked to four of Ismail Sabri’s former officers arrested in February 2025. The Sessions Court later ordered forfeiture of about RM169 million after no third party challenged the application.
Ismail Sabri served as Malaysia’s ninth prime minister from August 2021 to November 2022, the shortest term in the country’s history. He remains the Member of Parliament for Bera.
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