Published on: Thursday, March 21, 2013 |
Kuala Lumpur: Ongoing investigations against Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud will continue following new leads that have emerged, the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) said today.
This follows a 16-minute covert video revealed by Global Witness (GW) implicating Taib and his family with shady land deals, which surfaced in the media yesterday.
"The investigation has been ongoing. With the new evidence that has emerged the MACC will act accordingly," its Director of Investigation Datuk Mustafa Ali said.
The corruption watchdog had two years ago confirmed that they were investigating Taib over allegation of timber corruption.
Meanwhile, the Advocates Association of Sarawak (AAS) has indicated that they will investigate and act against the lawyer featured in the GW clip.
The Sarawak lawyer, identified as Alvin Chong, allegedly represented sisters Fatimah Abdul Rahman and Norlia Abdul Rahman who were recorded in the video describing potentially illegal deals.
Both are daughters of former Chief Minister Tun Abdul Rahman Ya'akub and first cousins of Taib.
In a 16-minute video clip, GW investigators posing as foreign investors recorded snippets of their conversation with Taib's cousins and lawyers, made under the pretext of purchasing Sarawak land for hefty profit and which the environmental campaigner said would displace thousands of the indigenous people living there.
Taib had said that his cousins and others implicated in the video exposŽ were promoting themselves to be his agents to solicit favours.
"OK I saw the so-called proof. Could it not be someone who tried to promote themselves to be an agent to get favours from me?
"It has nothing to do with me. I think it is a bit naughty of them.
They are using their big powers to blacken my name," he said.
