KOTA KINABALU: The funds former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman was accused of receiving corruptly were not linked to any projects in Sabah, including logging concessions.
His lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad said yesterday that they were instead political donations for Umno and Barisan Nasional.
Yesterday Musa was acquitted of 30 corruption charges and 16 money-laundering charges involving millions of US dollars.
Amer Hamzah asserted that all the funds mentioned in these 46 charges were shown in previous investigations to be donations.
“About the total funds that were the subject of the prosecution, these funds were actually already explained during past investigations, where it was political donations given by party supporters, donors, the public and Barisan Nasional/Umno headquarters for use in preparations for by-elections and general elections, activities and expenditure of Barisan Nasional/Umno Sabah.
“All relevant and related documents had been supplied to the MACC,” he said in a five-page statement yesterday.
“At all material times, these political donations do not involve any projects for the state of Sabah, logging concessions and are not on a quid pro quo basis,” Amer Hamzah added, referring to the phrase which means giving something in exchange for receiving something else.
He pointed out that giving or receiving political donations was not a crime in Malaysia, which he said was confirmed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in a 2017 news report.
Of the 46 charges that Musa was facing and acquitted of yesterday morning, the 30 counts of corruption related to his alleged receiving of US$50.1 million (RM213.5 million) from eight logging concessionaires as inducement to give timber concessions to 16 companies, while the 16 money-laundering charges related to his alleged receiving of proceeds from illegal activities amounting to US$37,845,491.60 and S$2.5 million.