Money-laundering trial of former Water Department bosses resumes
Published on: Tuesday, April 12, 2022
By: Jo Ann Mool
Tahir and Lim
Kota Kinabalu: The trial of two former officials of the Sabah Water Department and one of their wives, who were charged with money-laundering, resumed at the Special Corruption Court here Monday after nearly four years of adjournment.The trial of the department’s former Director Awang Mohd Tahir Awang Mohd Talib, his wife Fauziah Piut and former Deputy Director Lim Lam Beng commenced before Judge Abu Bakar Manat.
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The prosecution’s seventh witness, Nekmah Abdullah, who was an administrative officer attached to the Water Department since Aug 8, 2016 until 2020, testified during examination-in-chief by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Zander Lim Wai Keong that based on Mohd Tahir’s service record, the total salary and net allowance received by him from 2003 until 2016 was RM1,437,259.95.
Nekmah said based on the Public Officer Service Book on Mohd Tahir, his last salary in 2015 was RM7,210.56.
To a question, Nekmah testified that the total salary and allowance received by Lim from January 2004 to January 2015 was RM1,017,467 and that Lim’s last salary in 2014 based on the Public Officer Service Book on him was RM8,438.15.
Nekmah, currently attached to the Sabah Rural Development Ministry since 2020, said she had served as an administrative officer under human resources for six years, namely four years at the Sabah State Railway Department and two years at the Sabah Water Department, and was familiar with General Order discipline.
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She said among the assets that need to be declared by civil servants are houses, cars, shares and savings such as ASB.
To a question by DPP Mahadi Abdul Jumaat, Nekmah said to the best of her knowledge, cash and jewellery, no matter how much, do not need to be declared.
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She said she was not sure whether savings in the bank or valuable items needed to be declared.
To another question on why it is mandatory for every civil servant in Malaysia to declare properties, Nekmah said this is to enable the authorities to know how much property is acquired during the service.
To a question on whether there are any written or unwritten rules allowing any officer to keep personal items such as cash in the office, Nekmah, in her witness statement, replied that she could not refer to any written or unwritten rules on the matter, but said that logically, the office is an official workspace and was not allowed to store personal items such as cash.
JANS also never issued any letter or memo authorising any officer to keep privately owned cash in the office, she said.
She also said the Director and Deputy Director of JANS are not responsible to collect cash from official collections such as water bills handled by the Revenue Unit, as the unit responsible for keeping the cash from the official collection is the Revenue Unit and not the Director.
Earlier, the prosecution tendered an amended charge on Mohd Tahir’s first charge, namely he allegedly had RM23,659,350, 282 Singapore Dollar and 46,200 Thailand Baht allegedly from illegal activity on Oct 4, 2016 at the JANS Director’s office, sixth floor, Wisma Muis, here.
On Dec 29, 2016, Mohd Tahir, 58, and Fauziah, 55, along with Lim, 66, had pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of money-laundering, involving RM61.57 million.
Mohd Tahir and Fauziah were represented by counsel Marcel Jude while counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan and Karpaljit Singh appeared for Lim.
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