Former Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob was charged on Thursday with failure to declare assets, becoming the third former premier prosecuted in recent years over alleged graft-related offences. The charge relates to concealing assets consisting of local and foreign currencies as well as gold bars and silver, according to the prosecution. Ismail Sabri, who served as Malaysia's prime minister for just over 15 months from 2021 to 2022 during a period of political upheaval, faces the charge linked to a graft investigation. His defence counsel, Amer Hamzah Arshad, told a press conference that the charge was essentially a failure to comply with a notice to declare certain assets. Arshad added that the defence would study the charge and had raised concerns about its propriety and legality, but would not go into further detail at this stage.