KOTA KINABALU: The Special Corruption Court here has adjourned the hearing of the "Sabah watergate scandal" after a lawyer was confirmed as being hospitalised.
Sessions Court judge Abu Bakar Manat, who is hearing the biggest corruption scandal in Sabah, fixed Nov 1-3 for the continuation of the trial.
"This court would like to proceed with the case as the prosecution is ready with their witnesses. However, due to the absence of the lawyer for the first and second accused for health reasons, this court has no option but to give an adjournment to the trial," said the judge.
He also warned all the parties not to make any postponements in future as the case had been prolonged for about seven years. The court, however, may reconsider if the reason is related to ill-health.
The trial was supposed to resume on Oct 11 till Oct 13, with the prosecution expected to call several witnesses, including the main witness for this case.
However, yesterday, counsel Marcel Jude who represented the former Sabah Water Department director Ag Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib and his wife Fauziah Piut, the first and second accused in this case, did not show up.
The court learnt that Marcel was warded, but no official letter or medical certificate was tendered to the court. Marcel's clients were also in the dark about his whereabouts.
In today's proceedings, Abu Bakar said the court had received a letter from Marcel and also a letter from Gleneagles Hospital Kota Kinabalu this morning confirming that Marcel had been admitted to Gleneagles on Oct 11, due to uncontrolled diabetes mellitus.
When asked by the judge, Tahir said they (he and his wife) had gone to Gleneagles and confirmed that Marcel had been warded.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mahadi Abdul Jumaat hoped that there would be no more postponement in the upcoming hearing.
"We would like to put on record that for today we already had three prosecution witnesses, and for tomorrow we will call on the main witness in this case together with 12 other individuals for identification purposes.
"Throughout the three days of the scheduled hearing process this time, a big amount (cost) has been issued by the government for this trial. We hope that for this upcoming hearing on Nov 1-3, there will be no more postponement made by any party, including ourselves, since this case has already run for almost seven years," he said.
Tahir, 58, and Fauziah, 55, were jointly tried with the former deputy director of the department Lim Lam Beng, 66, the third accused, to 37 charges of money laundering, involving cash and bank savings involving more than RM61 million, as well as unlawful possession of luxury goods.
The trio had, on Dec 29, 2016 pleaded not guilty to the charges. The trial started in May 2018 and 28 prosecution witnesses had been called thus far.
Together with DPP Mahadi are DPPs Haresh Prakash Somiah and Zander Lim. Lim was represented by counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan, Baldev Singh and Karpaljit Singh.