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KOTA KINABALU – A former water engineer involved in the Sabah “Watergate” scandal told the sessions court here yesterday that he surrendered RM1.5 million to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) after the centralised collection system was uncovered in 2016.
Tam Yin Foon was reported as saying by The Daily Express that he surrendered the money to the MACC after he was remanded for seven days and gave his statements to the anti-graft body in 2016.
He handed RM1.2 million cash he kept at home, and RM300,000 from his bank account, and he asked a contractor to surrender another RM300,000 to the MACC.
Tam, who was stationed as a water engineer in Kota Belud from 2002 to 2007, and in Keningau since 2007 said the money was his own money – inherited from his father who passed away in 2004, and income from rentals.
However, he told judge Abu Bakar Manat that he had voluntarily surrendered the funds to the MACC at the time as Tam said he did not know anything.
Tam was testifying as the prosecution’s 33rd witness in the trial of former Sabah water department director Ag Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib and his wife, jointly tried with former state water deputy director Lim Lam Beng, to 37 counts of money laundering charges, involving cash and bank savings amounting to RM61.57 million, as well as unlawful possession of luxury goods.
He said that on April 6, 2005, he was at a meeting involving divisional and district water engineers in Sabah when he was informed about the 10.75% scheme system.
He added that he agreed to the scheme because no other engineers objected. He was also worried that the Kota Belud division would not get sufficient allocation if he rejected the scheme even though he was not forced to join it.
He then returned to his district and about four Water Department-friendly contractors in his district agreed to join the scheme.
Tam said he had given about RM200,000-RM300,000 in cash four times a year to Teo Chee Kong, who was the then Kota Kinabalu divisional water engineer.
He had been doing so since he was stationed in Kota Belud, until when he was in Keningau.
He kept the commission money in RM100 and RM50 notes in a courier bag and inserted a piece of paper stating the amount in the bag before sealing it and handing it over to Teo.
Tam also said he noticed that there was about a 30% to 40% increase in allocation given to his division in Kota Belud and Keningau when the scheme was implemented.
There were no complaints from any party, including contractors, about the 10.75% scheme as long as he was working as a water engineer in Kota Belud and Keningau.
He said he kept most of the money obtained from the scheme in the Standard Chartered Bank from 2005 to 2016 but he could not remember the amount.
The money earned from the scheme was kept in his bank account to pay housing loans, car loans, and credit cards, and also for travelling expenses, he added.
The prosecution was headed by deputy public prosecutors Mahadi Abdul Jumaat, Haresh Prakash Somiah, and Zander Lim, and counsel Priskila Akwila Sinem and Mohamed Fareeez Mohamed Salleh represented Ag Mohd Tahir and Fauziah.
Lim was represented by Datuk Tan Hock Chuan, Baldev Singh, Karpaljit Singh, Kelvin Wong, and Aaron Lau. – The Vibes, April 14, 2023