A former Sabah infrastructure minister rejects claims of receiving RM500,000 in cash at his ministry office in 2005.
In his testimony at the Sabah water department corruption trial, Raymond Tan dismissed assertions made by Teo Chee Kong, the former deputy director of the department, who said the minister at the time accepted cash from Teo and another officer before discussing “allocations” sourced from contractors.
Tan, a former deputy chief minister who left the Gerakan party for Warisan in 2019, told the Kota Kinabalu sessions court that stringent security measures, surveillance cameras, and ministry policies would have prevented cash gifts from being brought into his office.
He also stated that he had never heard of a “centralised collection scheme” as described by Teo during the proceedings, according to the Daily Express.
Tan noted that he had never been questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission regarding the alleged cash gift involving Teo and the other officer.
The testimony came as he serves as a defence witness in the trial of former Sabah water department director Ag Tahir Ag Talib, Tahir’s wife Fauziah Piut, and former deputy director Lim Lam Beng, also known as Lim Chee Hong.
The trio pleaded not guilty in 2019 to 37 counts of money laundering totaling RM61.57 million, along with charges related to improper possession of luxury items. Tahir faces 11 charges, Fauziah 19 charges under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, with the couple jointly charged on two counts and Tahir facing one additional count. Lim faces four charges and is alleged to have possessed RM2.38 million in cash between October 13 and November 8, 2016."
