Muhyiddin Yassin, who was Malaysia’s prime minister as the country locked down over COVID-19, has been arrested and will be brought to court to face corruption charges, the country’s anti-graft agency has said.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said in a statement on Thursday evening that Muhyiddin was arrested after he was questioned over an economic recovery project launched by his government.

Muhyiddin, 75, had voluntarily attended questioning at the MACC on Thursday morning regarding allegations that building contractors deposited money into the accounts of his Bersatu party in exchange for contracts during the pandemic.

MACC chief Azam Baki told state news agency Bernama earlier in the day that the former prime minister would appear in court on Friday.

Muhyiddin, who was pictured praying and surrounded by supporters before heading into the MACC office, has denied the allegations and said he is the target of a political vendetta.

A number of other Bersatu politicians have been questioned over the allegations and two have been charged.

Muhyiddin will be the country’s second leader to be indicted after leaving office. Ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak was hit with multiple corruption charges after he lost power in a 2018 general election. He began a 12-year jail term in August 2022 after losing his final appeal in the first of several trials.

Muhyiddin became prime minister in March 2020 after an internal power struggle, when the reformist coalition that he had once been part of won historic elections in 2018.

He lost the job in 2021 to more political manoeuvring, and his coalition then lost a hard-fought election to another veteran politician, Anwar Ibrahim, in November.

Anwar has promised to crack down on corruption, ordering a review of government relief programmes during the pandemic.

Najib Razak, who was once Muhyiddin’s boss and Anwar’s colleague, became the first Malaysian prime minister to be sent to jail when he was found guilty of corruption in a case related to the multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB. He faces several other trials over 1MDB.