Kota Kinabalu: The Special Corruption Court on Wednesday ordered former Sabah Water Department Director Ag Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib, 62, his wife Fauziah Piut, 59, and former Deputy Director Lim Lam Beng, 70, to enter their defence on multiple money laundering charges.
Judge Abu Bakar Manat made the ruling after finding that the prosecution had successfully established a prima facie case against them on all the charges in Sabah’s biggest corruption scandal.
Abu Bakar set Feb. 26, 27, 28 and April 28, 29, 30 for the defence's case. Ag Mohd Tahir and Lim had opted to give sworn evidence from the witness box, while Fauziah will give an unsworn statement from the dock. The court ordered bail extended to all the accused.
On Dec. 29, 2016, Ag Mohd Tahir, Fauziah, and Lim claimed trial to the charges against them. The prosecution closed its case on May 16. The trial spanned six years since May 7, 2018 and involved 46 witnesses.
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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 Ag Mohd Tahir and Fauziah have another two joint charges under Section 4 (1)(b) of the same Act.
The offences against Ag Mohd Tahir and Fauziah were allegedly committed at separate location 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 facing four counts of having a Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle, cash of RM200,000, RM1,900,000 and RM280,000 from proceeds of unlawful activities as framed under Section 4 (1)(b) of the same Act.
The offences allegedly committed on Oct. 13, Oct. 22, Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, 2016 here.
Abu Bakar stated that in the present case, during the raid conducted, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) search team, led by the prosecution's 40th witness, Hishamuddin Mohd Esa, seized various movable assets, including cash, vehicles, jewellery such as branded watches, items of jewellery (both gold and non-gold), and various luxury handbags.
The cash, valuables, and jewellery were discovered in Ag Mohd Tahir’s office, in the master bedroom of his house, and in two cars belonging to him.
According to the testimony of prosecution witnesses, RM23,695,050 in cash was found and seized from Ag Mohd Tahir’s office at Wisma Muis, RM8,565,071 in the home of Ag Mohd Tahir and Fauziah, RM9,194,765.00 from a Mazda 6 and RM4,130,400 in cash stuffed in a Mercedes Benz C300. The total amount of cash found and seized amounted to RM45,549,586.
In addition, various foreign currencies were also discovered and seized from Ag Mohd Tahir, including USD, Pound Sterling, Euro, UAE Dirham, Thai Baht, Chinese Yuan, HKD, Japanese Yen, Dong, Won, Saudi Riyal, SGD and Indonesian Rupiah.
The Court was satisfied that the prosecution had proven that Ag Mohd Tahir used his position as Director of the Sabah State Water Department (JANS) to engage in illegal activities, specifically corruption, through a "centralised collection" scheme that operated from 2005 to 2016.
“Furthermore, based on the testimony of the witnesses, it is clear that this centralised collection scheme could not have been carried out without the knowledge, instructions, approval and involvement of Ag Mohd Tahir himself.
“The testimony of the prosecution's key witness, Teo Chee Kong, regarding the centralised collection, schedule rate and the HQ list is material and relevant to the case.
This testimony was not successfully challenged by Ag Mohd Tahir during his cross-examination.
“The discovery of such a large amount of cash, totalling RM49,686,708.28, in Ag Mohd Tahir’s office, home and vehicles, along with the money seized from his bank accounts amounting to RM4,158,892.28, is evidence that Ag Mohd Tahir has failed to disprove.
“During the investigation and in cross-examination of the prosecution's witnesses, Ag Mohd Tahir failed to provide an explanation regarding the source of the money that was found and seized. Similarly, he was unable to explain the purchase of the luxury cars and watches, all of which were in his possession at the time of the raid,” said Abu Bakar.
Abu Bakar further stated that Fauziah was charged with 19 offences for possessing a substantial sum of money in her personal bank accounts, totalling
RM2,229,632.65, as well as owning various jewellery items (921 in total) and 93 luxury brand handbags.
“Referring to the charges against Fauziah, the total value of the assets in question exceeds RM6,000,000. The question is where is the source of income or revenue that Fauziah got to own all those properties? In addition, Fauziah also in the investigation failed to explain the source of the money obtained.
“In relation to the discovery of luxury designer handbags and a large quantity of jewellery belonging to Fauziah and based on the testimony of witnesses, documents, and circumstantial evidence, the court is satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that Fauziah, through her husband Ag Mohd Tahir, was involved in possessing the proceeds of illegal activities.
“Although Fauziah was not involved in the 'centralised collection' scheme, her act of possessing the proceeds of illegal activities in the form of millions of ringgit in cash in her personal bank accounts as well as a substantial collection of luxury designer handbags and jewellery, constitutes an offence under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLATFA 2001),” he said.
Regarding the case of Lim, Abu Bakar said there is no doubt that Teo Chee Kong (PW29) faces 146 charges under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) and is both an accomplice and the individual responsible for managing the centralised collection.
“In relation to Teo's testimony on this issue, the Court has also warned itself about the danger of convicting an accused person only on the unsupported testimony of an accomplice.
“The Court is also fully aware of the significant role Teo played in the largest corruption scandal in the history of the state of Sabah.
“However, after evaluating and examining Teo's testimony, and referring to the relevant and applicable authoritative sources, the Court found that Teo's testimony was ‘inherently probable’ and was corroborated by the testimony of other prosecution witnesses, namely Tam Yin Foon, the former Keningau Division Water Engineer, and Suhaimi Abdullah, the former Beaufort Division Water Engineer.
“The fact that Teo is a former accused who was initially charged together with Ag Mohd Tahir, Fauziah and Lim does not make Teo an unreliable witness and his testimony cannot be trusted.
"The court can accept Teo's testimony if there is other supporting evidence or based on circumstantial evidence. And in this case, Section 33 of the Evidence Act 1950 referred to by the prosecution is relevant.
“Furthermore, this is only at the stage of the prosecution's case, and Lim still has the opportunity to present his defence in his testimony after this, added Abu Bakar.
Co-counsel Datuk Ansari Abdullah, representing Ag Mohd Tahir and Fauziah, informed the court that they would call and interview six out of the 38 witnesses offered by the prosecution on 16 May this year.
The six are former Chief Minister-cum-State Infrastructure Development Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, former Deputy Chief Minister-cum-State Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Raymond Tan, Teo Chit Ming (the brother of Teo Chee Kong, who was the star witness in the trial), former permanent secretary Datuk Felix Madan, Datuk Michael Emban and Datuk Peter Thien a former deputy permanent secretary of the Sabah State Government.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Mahadi Abdul Jumaat, Haresh Prakash Somiah and Zander Lim appeared for the prosecution.
Counsel Priskila Akwila Sinem as a led counsel represented Ag Mohd Tahir and Fauziah together with Co-Counsel Datuk Ansari Abdullah.
Counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan and Baldev Singh represented Lim.
