KOTA KINABALU: A former Sabah Water Department director and his wife were detained at the Kepayan prison after they failed to furnish their RM10 million and RM2 million bails respectively yesterday.
Ag Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib, 54, his wife, Fauziah Piut, 51, and Sabah Finance Ministry technical and engineering advisor Lim Lam Peng, 62, had earlier yesterday pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court to a total of 37 counts of money laundering involving cash and bank savings of RM61.48 million, as well as unlawful possession of luxury goods.
Lim was released after he paid his RM1 million bail through a bank draft.
Ag Tahir was charged with 11 counts under Section 4 (1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities (AMLATFAPUA) Act 2001 for allegedly possessing properties amounting to RM56.9 million of cash and savings, 86 luxury watches and cars, which are proceeds of unlawful activities.
The alleged offences were committed at the former Water Department director’s office here, Townhouse Graceville in Sembulan, OCBC bank and UOB bank here and Kingfisher Sulaman between October 4 and November 4.
He was also charged under Section 4(1)(a) of the AMLATFAPUA Act 2001 for directly engaged in a transaction that involves proceeds of an unlawful activity involving RM14,000 towards one Cristine Fiona M Ponsoi at Puncak Luyang Condo on October 4.
The indictment provides for a jail term of up to 15 years and also liable to a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the proceeds of an unlawful activity or instrumentalities of an offence at the time the offence was committed or RM5 million whichever is the higher, upon conviction.
Fauziah faces 19 charges under Section 4 (1)(b) of the AMLATFAPUA 2001 for similar offences of allegedly possessing up to RM2.2 million cash and savings at Townhouse Graceville in Sembulan and several banks of Bank Islam, CIMB, Bank Rakyat here, and PNB Tower in Kuala Lumpur between October 4 and November 4.
Ag Tahir and his wife were also jointly charged with two counts of possessing gold jewellery, non-gold jewellery and various luxury items, including handbags, at Graceville in Sembulan on October 4, under Section 4 (1)(b) of the Act and read together under Section 34 of the Penal Code.
Lim faces four charges under Section 4 (1)(b) of the Act for a similar offence.
He was alleged to have possessed cash amounting to RM2.38 million at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office in Jalan UMS and a Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle at a house in Jalan Penempatan here between October 13 and November 8.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Husmaruddin Husin together with DPP Farez Rahman objected to bail to be granted to all the accused persons on the grounds that they were charged under a serious offence.
Taking into consideration the severity of the offence and public interest, the prosecution requested a higher bail sum to be imposed on the accused persons if the court granted bail to them.
Counsel Hairul Vaiyron, who represented Ag Tahir and Fauziah, prayed for the court to grant a lower bail amount on his clients as RM10 million and RM2 million, respectively, were too excessive.
He said that the couple have three children, who depend on them with their daughter currently studying at a university in the United Kingdom while Fauziah is only a housewife.
Meanwhile, counsel Chin Teck Ming, who represented Lim, prayed for the court to grant a lower bail sum on the grounds that his client has five children and has no risk of absconding.
Chin and Hairul also said that their clients are locals with families residing in Sabah and have cooperated very well with MACC officers during the investigations.
The court fixed February 28 next year for case management and released Ag Tahir, Lim and Fauziah on bail of RM10 million, RM2 million and RM1 million respectively, fully deposited with two local sureties.
They were also ordered to surrender all their travel documents to the court.
DPP Husmaruddin and Farez appeared together with Anaz Mahathir, Rozanna Abdul Hadi and Rustam Sanip while counsel Hairul together with Ariel Dasan stood in for PJ Perira.
Defence counsel Chin represented Lim together with counsel Baldev Singh and Karpaljit Singh.
Ag Tahir and Lim were remanded by the Magistrate’s Court here over investigation of the Sabah Water Department’s multi-million ringgit corruption scandal on October 5 and 14, respectively.
The case involves the biggest seizure ever by MACC of over RM114.5 million in cash, jewellery worth RM3.64 million and 127 land titles worth RM30 million.