Muhyiddin Yassin arrives at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 1, 2020. Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has agreed with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as the country's new prime minister who was scheduled to be sworn in on Sunday. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Malaysia's new Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin named the chief executive of CIMB Group as the country's new finance minister on Monday, and appointed a new head of the anti-graft commission investigating how billions of dollars went missing from the sovereign fund 1MDB.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday sent a congratulatory message to Muhyiddin on his appointment as prime minister. 

Li said that he is looking forward to working with Muhyiddin to continue deepening the China-Malaysia comprehensive strategic partnership, promote greater achievement in cooperation of jointly building the Belt and Road, and strengthening China-ASEAN relations to a higher level, so as to better benefit the two countries. 

Sworn in a week ago, Muhyiddin emerged as the head of a new coalition after days of political chaos following the abrupt resignation of veteran leader Mahathir Mohamad late last month.

While Mahathir had led a multi-ethnic coalition, the new ruling coalition is dominated by conservative, ethnic Malay parties, notably the main losers in the 2018 election - the United ­Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and ­Islamist Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS).

Announcing his cabinet, Muhyiddin chose Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, the chief executive of Malaysian banking group CIMB, as finance minister, while also appointing senior UMNO and Islamist politicians to key posts.

Earlier on Monday, the prime minister's office announced the appointment of Azam Baki as the new chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission, after the resignation of Latheefa Koya last week.

Latheefa had spearheaded investigations of former prime minister Najib Razak and other UMNO leaders over how billions of dollars were allegedly siphoned from state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Najib has denied all wrongdoing, describing the cases against him and his wife as politically motivated. 

The new lineup also includes Mustapa Mohamed, a former trade minister, as a minister in the prime minister's department in charge of the economy.