'Watergate' trial: 346 jewels, 86 watches, three luxury pens worth RM5.13mil took 7 hours to assess, says witness
Published on: Wednesday, May 18, 2022
By: Jo Ann Mool
Kota Kinabalu: The Special Corruption Court was told that 346 pieces of jewellery, 86 watches and three luxury pens valued at RM5.13 million took a jeweller seven-hours to assess in a mega corruption case involving a former Sabah Water Department director and two others today.
Testifying as the prosecution's 21st witness, Siow Der Ming, a director at jewellers Poh Kong Holding Berhad, Petaling Jaya, Selangor told Judge Abu Bakar Manat that he was on Dec 15, 2016 contacted by an officer from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) informing him that his expertise was needed to assist the agency in assessing gold in respect of cases being investigated at Bank Negara, Sabah, to which he agreed.
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Siow testified that he went to the MACC office in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 9 of the same year, bringing along the necessary equipment for the assessment process.
Siow said the evaluation session took from about 10am until 7.30pm and among the jewellery valued were various types of gold such as 999, 950, 916, 835, 750, 375 along with jewellery stones, various jewellery items such as white gold, gemstones, watches and some accessory items, various gemstones such as Jade, Sapphire, Ruby, Gem, Pearl and various "Semi Precious Stone" and various types of gold such as White Gold and Yellow Gold along with gemstones.
On trial were the former director, Ag Mohd Tahir Ag Mohd Talib (pictured), 58, his wife Fauziah Piut, 55, and former deputy director of the department Lim Lam Beng, 66, who on Dec 29, 2016 pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of money laundering charges involving cash and bank savings amounting to RM 61.57 million, as well as unlawful possession of luxury goods.
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