Three to be charged Thursday in RM3.3bil Sabah water scandal

KOTA KINABALU: Three people are expected to be charged Thursday in connection with one of the country’s biggest graft investigations involving alleged abuse of power in the siphoning of RM3.3bil of federal funds for water development in Sabah.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency sources have confirmed that the three would be charged at the Sessions Court here. They declined to identify the suspects.

It is understood that the former director of Sabah Water Department, who has been suspended from his duties, will be among those slapped with charges of corruption, abuse of power and money laundering.

It is understood that the Attorney General's Office has given the green light to charge three of the suspects in connection with the case where investigators uncovered over RM114mil in cash, property, jewellery, local and overseas banks accounts that were allegedly linked to the duo.

The sensational corruption case came to light after raids were made at the office and home of the 54-year-old director and his 52-year-old deputy on Oct 22.

Shocked investigators allegedly found RM45mil in cash in the director’s house and some RM3mil at the office of the other.

The massive probe nearly crippled the department when investigations went down to the district levels.

MACC also arrested the deputy director’s 55-year-old brother, a businessman and a former state water department deputy director appointed as an adviser to the state Finance Ministry on water issues.

The investigations led to the suspension of the two top water officials and the department has transferred nearly 15 engineers at both state and district levels implicated in the probe.

MACC investigators claimed that the suspects were siphoning RM3.3bil funds meant for water projects in Sabah since 2010 through a network of companies linked to their families. They were also probed for abuse of power.

In late November, MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Azam Baki said they had analysed 8,000 payment vouchers between 2008 and 2016 from “tens of thousands of documents.”

Azam said apart from the two top officials, also detained were 26 others and another 23 divisional and district engineers.

The MACC recorded the statements of 200 witnesses in their probe where they have seized or frozen some RM114.5mil of cash, bank accounts, unit trusts and other assets within and outside the country.