FORMER Sabah chief minister Musa Aman is being sued for misappropriation of Yayasan Sabah’s income from the issuance of timber concessions during his time as chairman of the foundation between 2003 and 2018.
A legal notice published in a local daily yesterday stated Zulkifli Kassim of Kampung Bobot, Kota Belud, had filed a writ of summons to the Kota Kinabalu High Court against Musa.
He is seeking from Musa the return of some US$101 million (RM407 million) from the issuance of the timber concessions and an additional 8% annual interest for Yayasan Sabah.
Based on legal documents obtained, Zulkifli said he filed the suit as a citizen of Sabah and that Musa had committed criminal breach of trust by pocketing the monies.
“As per Section 12 of the Sabah Foundation Act, the defendant is only allowed to apply the capital income of the fund whensoever derived to the carrying out the objects of which the foundation was established i.e. the welfare of the people of Sabah.
“Nowhere does it say in the act that the capital income of the fund can be pocketed by the defendant ,” he said.
The legal notice also demanded that Musa be present at the court to answer for the allegations.
Meanwhile, Musa’s lawyer, Tengku Fuad Ahmad, said he had received the suit and will likely represent Musa on his behalf.
Musa is not currently in Sabah. On May 12, he had boarded a Malindo Air flight for the peninsular. Through his lawyer, Musa had said he left Malaysia on May 16 to receive medical treatment in London.
The authorities had been attempting to record his statement concerning a police report on an alleged threat made against Sabah Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.
According to the documents, Zulkifli based his summons on reports published by international media and authorities in Hong Kong.
He said based on these reports, a series of deposits totalling RM4.04 million were made from two accounts into accounts linked to Musa in July 2006.
On August the same year, the same amount of money was transferred to a trustee of Musa’s.
Zulkifli said that timber companies deposited more money through a multitude of companies in the British Virgin Islands using the same method.
Zulkifli said more deposits were made by the timber companies into shelf corporations, including one controlled by timber tycoon Michael Chia, from which funds were later transferred to Musa.
“Altogether, the amount comes up to about RM400 million,” Zulkifli said, adding that instead of handing this income to the rightful beneficiaries, including the plaintiff, Musa pocketed the money for himself.
– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.