Trial of ex-Water Dept director and three others begins

KOTA KINABALU: The trial of Sabah Water Department exdirector, his former deputy and two others, who were separately charged under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities (Amlatfapua) Act 2001, started at the Sessions Court here with two prosecution witnesses.

The first prosecution witness, Chin Chen Huat, 51, who is the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) assistant commissioner from Putrajaya, testified before judge Abu Bakar Manat yesterday.

Chin read aloud his witness statement which stated that he had identified a complaint form made against Ag Mohd Tahir Mohd Talip, Sabah Water Department director, which he had prepared himself.

In the statement, Chin further confirmed that he was the investigation officer for the complaint which was investigated under MACC Act 2009.

In a cross examination by counsel Marcel Jude Joseph, Chin told the court that he only prepared the complaint form to run the investigation and he could not disclose nor give description of the complainants in the case as stated under MACC Act.

Marcel read aloud the complaint form which had stated that Ag Mohd Tahir received a gratification, which was a vehicle from a company through the operator of Timbangan and Sepagaya dams.

Meanwhile, the second prosecution witness was the MACC senior superintendent from Putrajaya, Glenn Lores, 34, who identified another complaint form which he had prepared.

In the witness statement, the complaint form was made against Teo Chee Kong, where Teo had received a gratification of RM200,000 through Amanah Saham Bumiputera 2 from a director of a company, who is an operator of Telibong Dam.

To a question by counsel Nurul Rafeeqa Afdul Mutolip, he told the court that apart from preparing the complaint form, he also assisted investigation and was one of the officers who seized the property of Lim Lam Beng, which was cash money.

He also said he had recorded witnesses’ statements and the witnesses were Water Department staff and public witnesses such as bank officers, among others.

Ag Mohd Tahir, 55, Teo, 52, together with Ag Tahir’s wife Fauziah Ag Piut, 52 and former deputy director of the department before Teo, Lim Lam Beng @ Lim Chee Hong, 63, were supposed to be jointly tried before a corruption court judge yesterday before it was rescheduled.

Ag Mohd Tahir, Fauziah and Lim had pleaded not guilty to their money laundering charges involving cash and bank savings amounting to RM61.48 million, as well as unlawful possession of luxury goods.

Ag Mohd Tahir faces 11 charges framed under Section 4 (1)(b) of Amlatfapua Act 2001 while Fauziah and Lim were each charged with 19 and four charges respectively, of the same Act.

Apart from that, Ag Mohd Tahir was also charged under Section 4(1)(a) of the same Act plus another two joint charges with his wife under Section 4 (1)(b) also of the same Act.

The alleged offences against Ag Mohd Tahir and his wife were committed at the former Water Department director’s office here, Townhouse Graceville in Sembulan, OCBC, UOB, Bank Islam, CIMB, Bank Rakyat here, Puncak Luyang Condo here, Kingfisher Sulaman and PNB Tower in Kuala Lumpur between October 4 and November 4, 2016.

Lim was alleged to have committed the offences at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office along Jalan UMS and a house along Jalan Penempatan here between October 13 and November 8, 2016.

Meanwhile, Teo was accused of possessing 70 pieces of lands and cash allegedly obtained from illegal activities.

All his charges were framed under Sections 4 (1) (a) and 4 (1) (b) of the same Act.

The first 78 charges alleged Teo of possessing the lands obtained from illegal activities through 78 transactions of transferring ownerships worth RM12,705,203.70.

The other 68 counts accused Teo of possessing cash amounting to RM7,930,810.48, where RM5,952,050.00 were in Malaysian Ringgit and RM1,978,760.48 in foreign currencies and also cash of RM12,287,240.07 in financial institutions.

The charges stated that Teo had committed the alleged offences at district offices and bank branches here, Penampang and Beaufort between 2005 and 2016.

Ag Mohd Tahir and his wife are currently released on bail of RM5 million and RM1 million, with RM2 million and RM500,000 deposited respectively, while Teo was granted RM1.5 million bail with RM500,000 to be deposited with two local sureties, pending disposal of their cases.

Throughout the trial, the court stood down three times due to some parties having not received documents which were tendered by the prosecution to the court as exhibits.

Deputy public prosecutor Tengku Amir Zaki Tengku Abdul Rahman then applied for adjournment in order to supply relevant documents to the defence counsels, which were related to prosecution’s first four witnesses. The trial continues today. DPPs Tengku Amir Zaki, Mohd Farez Rahman, Mahadi Abdul Jumaat and Rozana Abd Hadi appeared for the prosecution.

Counsels Marcel and Nurul Rafeeqa represented Ag Mohd Tahir and Fauziah while Datuk Tan Hock Chuan, Baldev Singh and Karpaljit Singh represented Lim.

Teo was represented by counsels Roland Cheng, Ram Singh and Nelson W. Angang.