Kota Kinabalu: Former State Water Department Deputy Director Lim Lam Beng denied in the Special Corruption Court, Thursday, that he had ever suggested or been involved in offering a bribe to former Infrastructure and Development Minister Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah.
Lim, who was giving his evidence-in-chief before Judge Abu Bakar Manat, was asked by his counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan about an allegation made by prosecution witness Teo Chee Kong, the 29th witness, concerning a purported bribe to Raymond.
Tan: Teo Chee Kong also alleged that you suggested a bribe to be given to YB Datuk Raymond Tan. What do you say, is this true?Lim: This is not true, as I never suggested a bribe to be given to YB Datuk Raymond Tan.
Tan: Teo also alleged that you and he went to meet YB Datuk Raymond Tan and offered him bribe money. Is it true?Lim: No. This is a senseless allegation.
When asked why he described it as a senseless allegation, Lim said: “How can a civil servant like me propose a bribe to the minister, which is against the government procedure?”To another question, Lim said at that time Raymond was the Minister of Infrastructure and Development in charge of the Sabah State Water Department, Public Works Department, Railway and Port.
When asked if he knew Raymond, Lim said he only knew him during meetings.
Tan asked whether Lim had introduced Teo to the minister, to which Lim replied: “Yes, I did.”When asked for what purpose, Lim said: “I brought Teo to introduce him to the minister because Teo was the Head of the Kota Kinabalu Divisional Water Engineer, in order to have smooth communication between Teo and Raymond.”To another question, Lim confirmed that at that time, Teo was the Divisional Water Engineer.
Tan then asked about Teo’s further allegation that Lim had introduced him to Datuk Pangiran Hassanel, Felix Madan, Michael Emban, Datuk Maznah Ghani, Datuk Ahmad Hashim, Datuk Yusof Kassim and Datuk Peter Thien concerning a collection scheme.
Lim replied: “This is not true. This is a totally false allegation against me.”Earlier, when asked how long he had known Teo, Lim said he knew him since Teo joined the Sabah State Water Department (Jans) in 1989, when Lim was already serving in the department.
When asked how he would describe Teo as an officer in Jans, Lim said he only knew Teo through official meetings and matters relating to water supply, and that they never interacted outside the office.
To another question, Tan asked: “Following from that, you would not consider yourself a friend of Teo?”Lim: Yes, I would not consider myself a close friend of Teo.
Lim further stated that it was common knowledge among the staff that Teo was an arrogant person who liked to put the blame on others instead of taking responsibility for his own actions.
Tan then referred Lim to a point raised in Teo’s witness statement, where Teo had alleged that Lim held a prior discussion with the Director of Jans to revise the so-called “Collection Scheme”.
Lim firmly denied this, saying he had never discussed anything with the Director concerning the scheme.
He also denied any involvement in the alleged collection scheme, saying he had no knowledge of it whatsoever.
Lim further denied that he had ever asked Teo to act as a runner for the alleged scheme, saying that is totally false allegation against him.
He told the court he did not have any contractors to introduce to such a scheme and dismissed Teo’s further allegation that he and Teo had a meeting to discuss a formula breakdown for the collection scheme.
Lim also denied that he and Teo had ever met the Director to explain any such formula, by saying: “No such thing, this is totally false allegation against me.”To another question, Lim said he did not attend the meeting for all Divisional Water Engineers and District Water Engineers held on April 6 and 7, 2005.
Lim, 71, is jointly tried with former Sabah Water Department Director Ag Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib 63, (first accused) and Ag Mohd Tahir’s wife, Fauziah Piut, 59 (second accused), who are facing multiple money laundering charges.
Lim, the third accused, faced four counts of having a Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle, cash of RM200,000, RM1,900,000 and RM280,000 alleged to be proceeds of unlawful activities as framed under Section 4 (1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
The offences allegedly committed on Oct 13, Oct 22, Nov 7 and Nov 8, 2016 here.
Ag Mohd Tahir and Fauziah, meanwhile, are facing 33 counts of money laundering involving RM61.57 million in cash and bank savings, as well as unlawful possession of luxury goods.
Ag Mohd Tahir faces 11 charges under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLATFPUA) 2001 and one charge under Section 4(1)(a) of the same Act.
Fauziah faces 19 charges under Section 4 (1)(b) of the same Act.
Both also faces two joint charges under Section 4 (1)(b) of the same Act.
The offences were allegedly committed at separate locations, among others, at an office in Kota Kinabalu, a house in Sembulan, at several bank branches, between Oct 4 and Nov 4, 2016.
Lim was represented by counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan and Baldev Singh, while Ag Mohd Tahir and Fauziah were represented by counsel Datuk Ansari Abdullah Deputy Public Prosecutors Mahadi Abdul Jumaat, Haresh Prakash Somiah and Zander Lim appeared for the prosecution.
Trial continues.