Musa no longer in Malaysia
Ex-Sabah CM believed to be in London as MACC attempts to search his home
The former Sabah chief minister is believed to be in London as MACC attempts to search his home.
PUTRAJAYA: Beleaguered Sabah Barisan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Musa Aman, who is wanted by the police and anti-graft agency, is believed to have left the country.
His former associates and aides were unable to say for certain where he was, though some believe he had left for Brunei and Singapore en route to London.
Highly-placed Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) sources said the body had several days ago sought for Musa to be barred from exiting the country.
“However, we found out that he had gone overseas way before we applied for him to be blacklisted,” a source told The Star.
The former Sabah chief minister is being sought by police over an alleged criminal intimidation report lodged against him by Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin and MACC for a graft probe.
Sabah police could only say that Musa was not in the state.
It is learnt that anti-graft officers had gone to two houses in Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan belonging to Musa to conduct a search.
However, both properties were unoccupied at that time.
Sources said the officers could not conduct a search as his lawyers, who were present, refused to cooperate.
“His lawyers gave us the house keys, but did not want to accompany us on the search.
“Our SOP (standard operating pro- cedure) requires officers to be accompanied during searches. Because of this, we did not enter the premises,” said the source.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Seri Azam Baki confirmed that his officers had gone to both premises, saying: “Yes, we were there, but the lawyers did not want to cooperate and assist us.”
Musa’s lawyer Zahir Shah declined to say where his client was or if he would give his statement to police soon.
He confirmed that MACC had obtained a warrant to search Musa’s home here on Wednesday.
He clarified that investigators could not enter the house despite having a warrant as neither the owner nor occupant was present.
Zahir dismissed news reports that files were removed by MACC during the visit, reiterating that its officers did not enter the home.
Musa, the Sabah Umno chief, was last seen on a Malindo flight to Kuala Lumpur on May 14 and at an Umno meeting chaired by Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the party deputy president undertaking the duties of the president, on May 16.
It is learnt that he was not present at the party’s supreme council meeting on May 21.
The probe by police and MACC comes after two chief ministers were sworn in within a space of 48 hours.
Juhar had sworn in Musa on May 10 and Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal on May 12 after the latter proved his majority support among the newly elected state assemblymen.
MACC is investigating the alleged buying over of assemblymen after the May 9 general election, which left Barisan and Warisan tied with 29 seats each in the 60-member assembly.
MACC is said to be investigating claims that RM20mil was dangled by Barisan to gain the support of Sabah STAR’s two assemblymen, paving the way for Musa to be sworn in.
Musa lost his majority after six assemblymen from Barisan component party Upko and Sabah Umno pledged support for Warisan and its partners DAP and PKR.
On Thursday, Zahir said Musa denied allegations of criminal intimidation against Juhar.
On May 17, Musa filed a suit seeking a court declaration that he was the legitimate chief minister.