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Kota Kinabalu: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s Strategy and Elections Director-General, Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin, said it is the right of Yayasan Sabah to go after former Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman to recover what it claims are improprieties amounting to RM872 million.

 

Our reports on June 20 and 21.

 However, the former State and Federal minister said he failed to see how any misconduct was possible by just anybody who held the post of Foundation Chairman.

 “This is because Yayasan Sabah has its directors and members (who make any decisions for approval) and Yayasan Sabah Director Datuk Jamalul Kiram Mohd Zakaria should know this,” he said, and hoped the action is not politically motivated as suggested. Whoever is the Chief Minister also becomes the YS Chairman.

 According to Lajim, holding a press conference to announce its action rather than serving the writ on the defendant first was also suspicious and highly defamatory.

 “Also, why is this accusation being raised now? Why not before and why not report it to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)?

 “It is clear that the action is politically motivated and the State Government under the leadership of Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal should be acting more responsibly,” he said in a statement.

Shafie

 He was asked to comment on the RM1 billion counter claim to be paid to a charity of his wish by Musa within 24 hours of the announcement by Yayasan. Musa had also demanded a public apology from the Board of Trustees.  Shafie had since responded that the court would be the best venue to settle the conflicting claims.

Yayasan Sabah had on Friday filed a RM872 million lawsuit against Musa over money alleged to have been lost due to a suspicious logging activity agreement.

Yayasan Sabah’s Jamalul said in a press conference that he represented the Yayasan Sabah Board of Trustees and filed the suit in the Kota Kinabalu High Court through e-Filing on Tuesday.

 Musa denied any wrongdoing while chairing Yayasan Sabah. Counsel Tengku Fuad Tengku Ahmad, who represented Musa, said his client was impacted by the press conference, press releases and that the exposure of the writ of summons had damaged his reputation. 

Rahman

Meanwhile, Umno Supreme Council member Abdul Rahman Dahlan questioned the timing of the suit by the Foundation saying it reeked of political vengeance.

Rahman said the timing of the suit, which he described as part of a smear campaign, was “highly suspicious”.

“Why now and not six months or a year ago?

“I dare say this sudden lawsuit mounted by Yayasan Sabah under Warisan’s watch is reminiscent of the attempt to reimpose old corruption charges for which Musa was already cleared of just three days before his appeal on the rightful Sabah chief minister case in 2018,” the Tuaran Umno division chief said in a statement.

Rahman said the decision by the trustees to go public with the suit was an attempt at “shock and awe” to “generate sensation and gain political mileage”.

He said it coincided with talks of Warisan elected representatives jumping ship and wondered if the ruling coalition was resorting to such “dirty legal tactics” out of fear.

Sabahans, he said, realised that the recent claims against Musa were similar to the corruption and money laundering charges that were recently dropped by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

“It looks like the Warisan-led government is dissatisfied with the decision and is hell-bent on getting Musa,” he said.

Azis

Rahman also said a statement by Warisan’s Sepanggar MP Azis Jamman proved the state government’s intention.

Azis had said he was perplexed that Attorney-General Idrus Harun had deduced that Musa was innocent whereas his predecessor Tommy Thomas thought there was a case. He lamented that things had changed since Perikatan Nasional took over the government and warned that if the government changed again, the AG might be replaced and the opinion might change as well.

Musa

Rahman said Azis’ statement “proves that the witch-hunt against Musa started when Warisan came into power supported by the Pakatan Harapan government”.

He asked why it was acceptable for Thomas to revive Musa’s case despite him being cleared by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption, but “questionable for the present AG to drop the case”.

He said there should not be any double standards.

“It goes to show that the Warisan-led government is in constant turmoil, focusing more on operation ‘Get Musa’ than running the state.”