Wednesday, 19 October 2016 | MYT 11:15 AM
Finance Ministry adviser in Sabah Water Dept graft probe released on bail
THE STAR
KOTA KINABALU: An adviser to the Sabah Finance Ministry, who was detained in connection with graft investigations into alleged misuse of RM3.3bil federal water projects, has been released on RM500,000 bail.
The 62-year-old government official, whose six-day remand expired Wednesday, was brought to the magistrate’s court here before being granted Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) bail in two sureties.
Magistrate Stephanie Sherron Abbie also ordered him to report once a month to the Sabah MACC office.
He was represented by lawyer Datuk Chin Teck Ming.
The adviser for technical and engineering, who was also the former Sabah Water Department deputy director, was the fifth suspect nabbed in connection with the case.
On Sunday, the department director was released after his 12-day remand expired while his deputy was released on Monday after being questioned for two weeks.
The deputy director’s elder brother, a 55-year-old businessman with a Datuk title, was also released on RM500, 000 bail with two sureties while his 50-year-old company accountant was released on RM50,000 bail with two sureties on Monday.
The alleged `hanky panky’ in water contracts is one of the biggest corruption investigations case in the country with MACC seizing over RM190mil including some RM57mil in cash following the arrests of the director and his deputy on Oct 4.
More then 80 witnesses have had their statements recorded and this included three department employees who “voluntarily” surrendered about RM1mil allegedly taken in the process of approving water projects under the RM3.3bil Federal allocations.
