Wife had RM292,790 in two banks
Published on: Friday, May 20, 2022
By: Jo Ann Mool
Awang Tahir with his wife.
Kota Kinabalu: The Special Corruption Court was told that former Sabah Water Department Director Ag Mohd Tahir’s wife, who was jointly charged with him and one other in a corruption case, had three fixed deposit accounts, a current account and a savings account under her name totalling RM292,790.72 in two banks.The prosecution’s 24th witness, Anicee Yong, a deputy manager of CIMB Bank in Api-Api here, told Judge Abu Bakar Manat that there were three fixed deposit accounts and one current account in CIMB Bank Berhad under Fauziah Piut’s name.
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Anicee verified that the balance in the three fixed deposit accounts on the statements dated from Jan 31, 2014 until Oct 24, 2016 were RM87,817.42, RM59,273.29 and RM29,535.03.
Anicee said the three fixed deposit accounts were opened on Sept 22, 1999 and the current account on Nov 14, 1994.
The witness testified that the current account balance dated Sept 1, 2016 until Oct 31 the same year amounted to RM43,281.70.
On May 17, it was revealed in the court through the prosecution’s 20th witness, Salinah Lamat, an assistant branch manager of Bank Rakyat, Kota Kinabalu branch that Fauziah had a savings account and shares worth a total RM84,658.84 in Bank Rakyat.
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Salinah certified that the balance of the savings account under the name of Fauziah Piut as of Nov 8, 2016 was RM49,974.84 and that the balance of Fauziah’s shares account was RM34,684 as of Nov 8, 2016 and that Fauziah had purchased the shares on Sept 17, 2004.
Anicee testified that all four accounts were frozen on Nov 4, 2016 by the headquarters of CIMB Berhad Kuala Lumpur on the order of the MACC and verified that all the balance in each account remained the same on the date of seizure.
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On trial was Ag Mohd Tahir, 58, his wife Fauziah Piut, 55, and former deputy director of the department Lim Lam Beng, 66, who had on Dec 29, 2016 pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of money-laundering charges, involving cash and bank savings amounting to RM61.57 million, as well as unlawful possession of luxury goods.
Earlier, the prosecution’s 23rd witness, Patrick Angkui, who was assistant manager of Maybank Kota Kinabalu branch in 2016, confirmed in his witness statement that Fauziah opened a savings account in Maybank Kota Kinabalu branch on March 25, 2008 and verified that based on the account opening documents, Fauziah’s occupation at that time was a clerk and has a diploma.
Patrick, who is now manager of Maybank Ranau branch, verified that the balance of the savings account under Fauziah’s name in Maybank as of November 2016 amounted to RM72,883.28.
He confirmed that the said account was seized by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Nov 4, 2016.
Meanwhile, the prosecution’s 25th witness, Tracy Hoh Su Juin, who was former director of Timplas Industries (M) Sdn Bhd, informed the court that Ag Mohd Tahir was appointed as a director of the company, nominated by Sabah Economic Development Corporation (Sedco), on Aug 2011.
Tracy, in her witness statement, said the company, which was set up on Jan 26, 1999 by one Hoh Thau Min and one Ho Lee Tshin, started operations in December 2004 with its main business to manufacture PVC pipes, HDPE and PVC fittings for the plastic industry.
The witness, currently a part time admin of a pharmacy, testified that on Feb 12, 2008, Sedco acquired a 51 per cent stake in Timplas.
After that, Timplas reshuffled the Board of Directors (BOD) where Sedco had five representatives while the Hoh family held four BODs.
She became one of the BODs in early 2011 although at that time there were already seven BODs from Sedco and only two from the Hoh family.
The witness confirmed that Sedco had nominated Ag Mohd Tahir to be appointed as the Director of Timplas Company on Aug 25, 2011 until the company ceased operations around 2019.
She testified that Ag Mohd Tahir as the director was not paid any emoluments or fixed salary/wages and that he was only paid an allowance to attend the Timplas’ board meeting of RM300 for each attendance.
Tracy confirmed that Ag Mohd Tahir only attended meetings twice during the time he was appointed director of the company, namely on June 7, 2011 and Aug 24, 2011, and confirmed that he was paid attendance allowance in meetings twice on June 14, 2011 and Sept 14, 2011 amounting to RM600.
The witness confirmed that Timplas never made any payment, either salary or wages, bonuses and any facilities to Ag Mohd Tahir and that he never made any kind of investment in Timplas.
Tracy added that Ag Tahir’s role on the company’s Board of Directors was to provide any views and advice in the field of pipe manufacturing industry operated by Timplas.
The witness said Ag Mohd Tahir had sent a letter of resignation as a director around 2016 after he was arrested by the MACC and his application to resign was approved several months after the letter was sent to Timplas.
To a question by Ag Mohd Tahir’s counsel whether he had returned to Timplas after his resignation, Tracy replied: “Never”.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Mahadi Abdul Jumaat and Haresh Prakash Somiah appeared for the prosecution.
Ag Mohd Tahir and Fauziah were represented by counsel Marcel Jude, while Lim was represented by counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan, Aaron Lau, Baldev Singh and Karpaljit Singh.
Trial will be continued on June 13-16.
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