KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah Water Department director Ag Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib received RM51,710,755.09 in "contribution" money between 2005 and September 2016, the Special Court for Corruption heard today.
Star prosecution witness Teo Chee Kong, 57, in the hearing of Sabah's biggest corruption scandal, claimed in his witness statement that the amount received by Tahir was 2.4 per cent, according to the Centralised Collection formula.
The court also heard that Teo, on his iwn initiative, had prepared a timetable from April 29, 2005 until September 2016 for the purposes of inspection and to count the amount to be given to the contribution recipients.
The 29th witness said he received the money from district and divisional water engineers before handing it to Tahir.
He packed the money inside courier plastic bags and handed it over to Tahir at his office or at a golf club.
He said, when handing over the money to Tahir, the meetings between lasted for five minutes, and Tahir would not talk much.
Teo claimed he would pack money within one week of receiving the payments from the water engineers before handing them to Tahir.
He said the money he received from the engineers would be kept at his house, which he used as a "collection centre".
On trial is Tahir, 58, his wife Fauziah Piut, 55, and former deputy director of the department, Lim Lam Beng, 68.
They had on Dec 29, 2016, pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of money laundering involving more than RM61 million.
Earlier, counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan, representing Lim, raised several objections to some parts in Teo's witness statement, as well as the marking of the witness statement as a prosecution exhibit.
Tan also objected to the table on the overall money from 2005 to 2016 which Teo claimed in his witness that he had allegedly handed over to Tahir and Lim.
He told the court that they were ready to give their submission on the objections that they raised.
The judge marked Teo's witness statement only as a reference and said he would later hear further arguments from both the prosecution and the counsel.
Apart from Tan Lim was also represented by Baldev Singh and Karpaljit Singh while Tahir and Fauziah were represented by Priskila Akwila Sinem.
Counsel Ram Singh is holding a watching brief for Teo.
Deputy public prosecutors Mahadi Abdul Jumaat, Haresh Prakash Somiah, and Zander Lim Wai Keong prosecuted.
The trial resumes tomorrow.