The accused, Teo Chee Kong (hooded), is escorted to the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court.
KOTA KINABALU: A former deputy director of the Sabah Water Department pleaded not guilty to 146 counts of embezzlement of public funds totalling RM32 million at the Sessions Court here today.
Teo Chee Kong, 52, claimed trial in the case which is said to involve the largest cash seizure in the history of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Sixty-eight of the charges were framed under Section 4(1)(a) and the remaining 78 under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
A court clerk gave a summary of the charges to Teo instead of reading them out one by one.
Teo was charged with the offences, allegedly carried out from 2005 to 2016.
Bail was fixed at RM1.5 million by Sessions Court judge Nixon Kennedy Kumbong, who also ordered Teo to report to the MACC office every Saturday.
MACC officers Tengku Amir Zaki Tengku Abdul Rahman and Mohd Hafiz Hashim prosecuted, while Roland Cheng and Hamid Ismail acted for the accused during the proceeding.
Earlier, Tengku Amir requested that the court impose a RM10 million bail on Teo, but Hamid countered, saying the bail amount should be set at RM1 million.
Nixon set case management for Jan 16 next year.
Three other people had earlier claimed trial in the same case.
The department’s former director Ag Mohd Tahir Ag Talib, his wife and another deputy director, Lim Lam Peng, were charged with 37 counts of funds misappropriation.
Their trial will start on Feb 21, 2018.
Some RM52 million in cash and valuables was seized in the case, announced by MACC in October last year and dubbed the “Sabah Watergate”. -FMT
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