Businessperson Albert Tei has given Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim seven days to respond to his demands linked to fresh charges of offering bribes in connection with the Sabah mining corruption scandal.
Speaking to reporters outside of the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex shortly after he posted RM70,000 bail, Tei said his demands included an explanation over the seizure of CCTV recordings from his house on Nov 28, the day of his arrest, as well as incidents that allegedly took place during and before.
“That is my house, my right - you came into my home and forced my wife to delete the video.
“I have a CCTV. What does my alleged breach of the notice (to go to MACC) have to do with you taking my CCTV?
“I want to state this very firmly: if my CCTV is damaged or deleted, I will take action against the MACC down to the very last detail.
“I want to stress, in the strongest terms, that if the CCTV goes missing or is damaged, I will pursue this to the fullest extent,” said the businessperson.
It is unclear why exactly Tei wanted the prime minister to explain the CCTV seizure, but his lawyers had previously demanded that the recordings be released to verify claims by the businessperson and his wife, Lee Pei Rie, that MACC officers pointed their guns at them.
MACC had since denied that its officers, who conducted the raid in bulletproof vests and balaclavas, pointed their weapons at the couple and that the raid was conducted in compliance with established procedures.
Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo had similarly said that releasing the CCTV recordings would be the fastest way to get to the bottom of the conflicting accounts of the raid.
‘There’s a huge shark behind this’
Meanwhile, Tei also demanded that Anwar explain why his former political aide, Shamsul Iskandar Akin, had allegedly informed the businessperson that the recordings implicating numerous Sabah politicians were ordered by the prime minister.
“Imagine this - Shamsul was the senior political secretary, the right-hand man, the second man to the prime minister. If I couldn’t trust him, who else could I trust?” said Tei, who is facing four charges of offering RM176,830 in bribes to Shamsul, who is also charged with receiving the bribes.
“I am giving you (Anwar) seven days to answer all my demands. If you fail to respond, you must resign,” stressed Tei, who ended his press conference with chants of “Reformati!” (reform is dead).
Tei earlier claimed that Shamsul, who has since resigned as Anwar’s political secretary, had once informed him, “Anwar asked to record (videos) of these Sabah assemblypersons involved in the corruption scandal”.
Tei, who was previously charged with offering bribes to two then Sabah assemblypersons, referenced his series of video exposés since November last year that implicated over a dozen elected representatives under Chief Minister Hajiji Noor’s previous administration.
“Why have I been fighting over this Sabah corruption scandal since November 2024? Because there is a mastermind behind it, a huge shark!
“So I want to ask - has Anwar been investigated? Has his statement been taken?” asked Tei.
“I asked him (Shamsul), ‘Is it true we’re doing this? We need to ask the prime minister.’
“He (Shamsul) said he has already discussed it with the prime minister, and the prime minister asked for it to be done.’
“Because this corruption video can be used to blackmail them for political gain. Only then did I dare to go ahead!” Tei claimed today.
‘Like what happened to Anwar in 1998’
On Nov 25, Tei implicated Shamsul in the Sabah mining corruption scandal, alleging that he spent RM629,000 on the latter after being purportedly assured that he could recoup the money channelled to politicians in the state.
Meanwhile, Tei also repeated claims that MACC officers had pointed a weapon at the businessperson during his arrest.
“When they ambushed, I went down and opened the door, the window. One of the officers was wearing a mask like a devil, really terrifying!
“He pointed his gun at me and shouted, ‘Open the door! Open the door!’ But they broke the door anyway - the safety lock had already been jammed shut. It’s not that I didn’t want to open the door,” he said.
Tei also likened the way he was arrested by multiple masked MACC officers to Anwar’s arrest in 1998, similarly witnessed by his wife and children.
“But at that time, Anwar wasn’t handcuffed, he wasn’t pinned down and tied with cable ties.
“What they (MACC officers) did was just like what happened to him (Anwar) in 1998,” claimed Tei, who in the days leading up to his arrest had teamed up with former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, at the time responsible for removing Anwar as his deputy prime minister. - Mkini
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