Modest cover for a pile of treasure

Sitting in the lap of luxury: There

KOTA KINABALU: On the outside, they were well-paid civil servants who were living modest lives and not known to flash their wealth.

But behind closed doors, they were sitting on a mind-boggling amount of cash, jewellery, watches and cars.

Sabah Water Department director Ag Tahir Ag Talip and his deputy Teoh Chee Kong were quite well-known in their neighbourhoods but no one had the faintest idea of the pile of treasure they were sitting on.

The 54-year-old Ag Tahir did have a penchant for luxury cars.

“He keeps to himself and he does not socialise much although he is well known,’’ said a person who knows him.

He said he had seen the director use most of the luxury cars which were seized by the MACC on Wednesday.

“I’ve seen him in the Range Rover. I believe all the cars in the media pictures are his. I’ve seen him driving those vehicles,” he said.

However, it is not known if the vehicles were registered under under Ag Tahir’s name.

It is learned the cars were seized from the house of one of his family members.

The nine luxury vehicles seized included a Range Rover V8 (worth RM1.1mil), Mercedes Benz C300 (RM308,000), Audi A1 (RM180,000) and Lexus ES (RM260,000).

Others familiar with Ag Tahir said he is from Sabah’s south-western Bongowan in Papar district. He was not known to be a show-off although he did take overseas holidays. He is a father of three – two daughters and one son – with the older daughter married with her own family.

The 52-year-old Teoh, from whose house and office graft investigators seized some RM7.5mil cash and 127 land titles and grants, was described as a very low-profile officer who moved around in an old Toyota Vios.

He lives in a bungalow in Luyang here, was from Sabah’s south-western Beaufort district. However, he had made many trips to Australia and might have been planning to migrate.

An engineer by training, he was from a well-to-do Sabah family involved in construction, development and hotel businesses. Friends and associates describe him as a very helpful person who never flashed his wealth.

“He does not even wear a watch,’’ a friend said.

Teoh had been in the post for about four years and was also in charge of the department’s west coast water operations.

Both have been remanded for a week since Wednesday.

MACC officers have also arrested a contractor with the title of Datuk and his company accountant.

More arrests are expected as they also try to trace money banked into a neighbouring country.