KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor has given his statement to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) over its probe into eight Sabah assemblymen over alleged pay-offs for mining prospecting licenses, says Tan Sri Azam Baki.
"Rest assured he (Hajiji) is not involved in this case," said the MACC chief commissioner during a press conference following a media dialogue session here on Thursday (April 10).
The eight, including three state ministers and the State Assembly Speaker, are allegedly linked to mining licenses and implicated in 10 video clips.
Azam Baki also dismissed claims of interference by the state government in their probe, saying that neither Hajiji nor state Speaker (Datuk Seri Kadzim Yahya) had asked about the probe.
Azam said the businessman who made the claims would also be called back to give his statement and provide more documents.
He also said this businessman was not classified as a whistleblower and had never made a formal report with the MACC.
"The probe was initiated without any formal complaint. We picked it up after the claims were published in (news) reports," he said.
Azam added that the MACC forensics team is currently verifying the videos.
He said the eight assemblymen implicated were shown the videos and asked to explain the context of their conversations.
He added that they would not need to them declare their assets for the time being.
