Ex-Sabah Water Dept deputy director gets discharge not amounting to acquittal in RM32.93mil money laundering case

(Front left) Teo and his team of lawyers at the Kota Kinabalu court.

KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah Water Department deputy director Teo Chee Kong has been given a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) by the special corruption court here on Friday (Feb 18).

He has been ordered to pay a RM30mil fine via a compound notice, which is a form of punitive punishment, said the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Legal and Prosecuting Division senior director Datuk Faridz Gohim Abdullah.

Teo, 57, was facing a total of 146 money laundering charges involving RM32.93mil.

He was first charged in December 2017.

Faridz said the act of issuing the compound notice was a success on the prosecution’s part, and that it does not affect the charges and ongoing cases involving other suspects to this scandal.

Earlier, Judge Abu Bakar Manat made the order after the MACC prosecuting team decided not to proceed with the case.

On Dec 29 2016, former Sabah Water Department director Awang Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib, his wife Fauziah Piut, and state Finance Ministry advisor and retired deputy director of the department Lim Lam Beng, were slapped with separate charges at a Sessions Court for money laundering involving RM61.5mil.