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Showing posts with label Ag Tahir Ag Talip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ag Tahir Ag Talip. Show all posts

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Water corruption, an integrity crisis is disruptive, debilitating, damaging and hurting us

 
Water Corruption | SSWM http://www.sswm.info/content/water-corruption

The Star Says: A crisis of integrity and a lesson to be learnt


THE country’s gaze is fixed on the alleged corruption in the Sabah Water Department, following the arrest of two of its senior officers.

How can it not be when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) displayed at a press conference on Wednesday the cash, cars and luxury goods found in the duo’s homes and offices?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how much power there is in photographs of items worth tens of millions of ringgit.

And the numbers that the case has yielded so far are dizzying.

The MACC has seized about RM57mil in cash, nine cars (estimated value is RM3mil), 19.3kg of gold jewellery (RM3.6mil), almost 100 handbags (RM500,000) and 127 land title deeds.

The commission has also frozen bank accounts with balances totalling RM60mil.

It is certain that more assets will be uncovered as the probe deepens and widens.

There are additional figures to digest.

The MACC has discovered that the department had given contracts to 38 companies owned by family members and proxies of the two senior officers.

These contracts were awarded for projects funded by the Federal Government. In total, RM3.3bil was set aside for the projects.

The Star reported yesterday that 60 sen out of every ringgit thus allocated was pocketed by many individuals.

We marvel at the size of the MACC’s haul and we are outraged by the extent of the apparent theft of government funds, but we should also take note of another set of numbers.

According to 2015 statistics from the National Water Services Commission, which is better known as SPAN, 87.9% of Sabah’s population has treated water supply.

Only Kelantan has a lower water coverage (64%), although SPAN explained that many households in Kelantan relied on alternative water sources.

At the national level, 95.5% of the population has water coverage.

Sabah did just as poorly in the handling of non-revenue water (NRW), which is the difference between the water that comes out of the treatment plants and the water for which consumers are billed.

The gap is due to theft, leakage, burst pipes, faulty meters and maintenance works.

Last year, Malaysia’s NRW rate was 35.5%. Sabah’s rate was 55.1%, which again placed the state as second from the bottom.

Perlis was slightly worse, with 56.3%.

Yes, Sabah is large, and its rural communities are dispersed. But the same can be said about Sarawak, which has performed better in these areas of water supply management.

Whichever way you look at it, Sabah cannot claim to have a sparkling record in providing water to the people and in taking care of the water infrastructure. And now we can think of many million reasons why this is so.

The MACC investigations probably have some way to go, and if it leads to people being charged in court, a lot more will have to happen before the Sabah Water Department case can be put to rest.

Nevertheless, this is also a time for a compelling case study on how corruption directly hurts us.

Here is a great example of why we should all fight corruption. Underestimate its impact, and we may one day be left high and dry. Let us not waste this learning opportunity.

We have lately been fretting about being hit by a water crisis, but we should also understand that an integrity crisis is just as disruptive, debilitating and damaging. The Star Says

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Saturday, October 8, 2016

Water theft: 60% of RM3.3bil project allocation stolen by senior officers

 
Jabatan Air Negeri  - Customer Service


How the millions were stolen?


1. Contracts broken down to small packages of RM100,000 each. This is to ensure the director or the deputy can award the contract.

2. Department carries out a limited tender process whereby between eight and 10 companies registered as contractors with the department are invited to put in their bids.

3. All the companies invited tend to act in concert. The ‘limited tender’ process is ‘fixed’ and given to the lowest bidder.

4. The other companies are paid off for their participation.

5. The project is finally carried out at a fraction of the tendered price.

Senior official: Unprecedented scale of corruption going on since 2010


In a shocking revelation, a senior government official said some 60% – close to RM2bil – of the RM 3.3bil Federal Government allocation for water projects in Sabah was siphoned off into individual pockets.

The projects were broken up into awards of less than RM100,000 each and tendered out to companies owned by the families of two top civil servants.

60% of project allocation stolen

 
Under scrutiny: MACC sources said they had identified 40 witnesses, mainly state Water Department officials, to have their statements recorded.

KOTA KINABALU: It’s shocking. Sixty sen out of every ringgit allocated by the Federal Government for water projects was siphoned off into the pockets of many individuals.

A senior state government official said only 40% of the federal allocations for water reached the ground in Sabah, and the rest of the money seemed to have been pocketed by individuals.

The official, who has knowledge of developments in the investigations involving the two senior Sabah Water Department officers, said there seemed to be an unprecedented scale of corruption involving the siphoning of federal allocations amounting to RM3.3bil for water projects in Sabah since 2010.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested Sabah Water Department director Ag Tahir Ag Talib, 54, and his deputy Teo Chee Kong, 52, and seized over RM115mil, including some RM57mil in cash, from their houses and office.

Two others, including Teo’s older brother – a 55-year-old businessman – and his accountant have been arrested since Tuesday for investigations into what is possibly the country’s biggest abuse of power, bribery and money laundering case.

It is believed the tender process was fixed so that proxy companies would get the project at inflated prices.

In many cases, the projects were broken up into smaller parcels of up to RM100,000 to avoid the tender process.

The director or his deputy can sign off projects below RM100,000.

MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Azam Baki has confirmed that there are 38 companies owned by family and friends of the two detained civil servants.

It is learnt that 17 of the companies were connected to the director while 21 were linked to his deputy.

These companies are said to have been used as fronts to take part in limited tenders to secure the projects.

This has been happening over the last five years with the amount adding up, sources explained, but declined to reveal the specific details of the projects.

MACC sources said they had identified 40 witnesses, mainly state Water Department officials involved in processing the contracts and contractors, to have their statements recorded.

A special team of 70 MACC officers are continuing to record statements, and scan through documents and the money trail.

They are also getting the director and his deputy to declare all their assets under Section 36 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009 as investigators want to obtain comprehensive details of their wealth.

So far, MACC has recovered some RM57mil in cash found from their offices, homes and safe boxes, frozen RM60mil in bank accounts of the duo including that of a company they were linked to.

They also seized 19.3kg of gold jewellery worth about RM3.64mil from the duo, and some 97 designer ladies handbags worth RM500,000 used by the director’s wife.

They also recovered some 127 land titles from Teo.

MACC is also working to repatriate funds banked into an account in a neighbouring country.

By Muguntan Vanar and Ruben Sario The Star/ANN

Pairin: State had nothing to do with stolen funds

 
Normal day: It’s business as usual at the Sabah Water Department despite the corruption issue surrounding the office.

KOTA KINABALU: The state government had nothing to do with the RM3.3bil Federal Government allocation to the Sabah Water Depart­ment, from which a large amount has been siphoned off.

Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan said the projects allocated since 2010 came under the Rural and Regional Development Ministry.

Sabahan Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal held the portfolio until 2015, when he was dropped from the Cabinet.

Pairin, who heads the state Industrial Development Ministry, said his ministry had no knowledge of the allocations as the water agency was the implementing agency for the federal funds.

Pairin said the procurement of the projects as well as the payments were handled by the federal ministry and the state water department.

“In light of this development, my ministry will study and propose an appropriate reporting system,” he said.

Investigators are looking into the possibility of some VIPS having links to the bribery and money laundering that have now been uncovered.

The sources, however, said it was still premature to speculate.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman had to step in to put an end to rumours linking the case to Kimanis Umno and also him.

Anifah, the Kimanis Umno division head, said MACC should be allowed to do its job.

He also threatened to take action if the defamatory statements continued to be published.

The Kimanis Umno link came as both the Sabah Water Department director Ag Tahir Ag Talib and his deputy Teo Chee Kong are from Beaufort and the Kimanis area.

There were claims on social media that Ag Tahir was the Kimanis Umno treasurer.

This has since been denied.

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has also ordered an immediate review of procurement procedures, and monitoring and financial management of all state departments and agencies, particularly those involving allocations and funds outside the state budget.

Musa, who is also state Finance Minister, gave an assurance that the review would not affect the ongoing MACC investigations. - The Star/ANN

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Friday, October 7, 2016

No water but officials flush with funds: abuse of power, nepotism, cronyism, bribery and money laundering

 
Logo Jabatan Air Negeri Sabah - http://malaysianlogo.blogspot.my/2014/06/jabatan-air-negeri-sabah-sabah.html

KOTA KINABALU: Everywhere in Sabah, there was only one topic – the huge stash of cash found in the homes of Sabah Water Department director Ag Tahir Ag Talip and his deputy Teoh Chee Kong.

Sitting in the lap of luxury: There’s more to Ag Tahir (left) and Teoh than meets the eye.

And what made Sabahans even more upset was the fact that there are many areas in Sabah still without proper piped water and disruptions are common. The usual excuse is: there are insufficient funds to carry out projects.

One resident from Sabah’s northern Kota Marudu said many villagers have been asking the state Water Department to get piped water and meters for their houses.

But the officials often said there were no funds although the main water pipe ran past their village.

“We suffer without water especially during the dry season. They have never entertained us because we can’t pay for the deposit,” said a Kota Marudu resident.

“It is not a question of envy. It is theft of public funds to me,” said restaurant owner Cheah Kok Lo.

A Beaufort resident, Rosita Ismail, 35, said: “I hope their arrest will serve as a lesson to future leaders.

“Don’t keep telling us the government has no money and to be patient,” she added.

Giant treasure trove - 38 companies got million-ringgit deals while public left without water


They lived like ordinary people, with only the luxury cars giving a hint of the wealth they have amassed. But even MACC investigators are shocked at the amount of money two top officers of the Sabah Water Department skimmed from projects in a state where many areas do not have piped water. The treasure just got bigger, too – another RM870,000 in cash and more jewellery have been recovered and the total could hit RM300mil.

 
Proof is in the mansion: Teoh’s house in Luyang near Kota Kinabalu.

KOTA KINABALU: Thirty-eight companies owned by family members and proxies of Sabah Water Department director Ag Tahir Ag Talib and his deputy Teoh Chee Keong were given water contracts worth millions for RM3.3bil worth of federal projects since 2010.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) sources said that 17 of the companies were held by siblings and family members of Ag Tahir and another 21 companies were owned by Teoh’s relatives.

The sources said the 54-year-old director and his 52-year-old deputy will be made to declare all their assets under Section 36 of the Malay­sian Anti-Corruption Act 2009 as the MACC wants comprehensive details of their wealth.

“We want to know what they own in a comprehensive way,” MACC deputy chief commissioner Datuk Azam Baki said yesterday.

He said they needed the two to give full details of their property and wealth. The sources said 40 witnesses have been identified, mainly Water Department officials and contractors.

Asked about talk that a few witnesses had left the country, Azam said all witnesses wanted by MACC were in Sabah.

He said they were gathering more documents and information in their investigations into the case, which involves abuse of power, nepotism, cronyism, bribery and money laundering.

Azam said they would be using Asean’s Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement (MLA) to get cooperation from a neighbouring country to get back money stashed in a bank account linked to the duo.

He said a special MACC team of investigators involving 70 personnel has been working on the case since last year.

Another RM870,000 and gems recovered as safes are opened


KOTA KINABALU: Graft investigators are still amazed at why two top officials of the Sabah Water Department kept a whopping RM53.7mil cash with them as the wealth continued to pour out of bank safe deposit boxes.

An additional RM870,000 in cash and a large amount of jewellery were recovered yesterday after Malaysian Anti-Corruption Com­mis­sion (MACC) investigators opened the last of the boxes.

The MACC is expected to call jewellers to assist in estimating the value of the jewellery recovered.

The investigators, who have been questioning the director Ag Tahir Ag Talip and his deputy Teoh Chee Kong for the past 72 hours, have yet to get answers on the source of cash found in both their houses and offices.

“We don’t know yet. We are recording their statements but we still have not established how and why they had such a large of amount of money,” an MACC investigator said on condition of anonymity.

Sources said the designer watches seized have also yet to be valued.

The 127 property and land titles found at the deputy director’s house might easily be worth over RM60mil in conservative estimates, the sources said.

“At the end of the investigations, we might be looking at between RM200mil and RM300mil in total,” the source added.

The two are under investigations for alleged abuse of power, kickbacks and money laundering in connection with RM3.3bil worth of contracts for federal-funded pro­jects given out by the Water Department in Sabah since 2010.

By Muguntan Vanar and Stephanie Lee The Star/ANN

Modest cover for a pile of treasure


KOTA KINABALU: On the outside, they were well-paid civil servants who were living modest lives and not known to flash their wealth.

But behind closed doors, they were sitting on a mind-boggling amount of cash, jewellery, watches and cars.

 
Sitting in the lap of luxury: There’s more to Ag Tahir (left) and Teoh than meets the eye.


Sabah Water Department director Ag Tahir Ag Talip and his deputy Teoh Chee Kong were quite well-known in their neighbourhoods but no one had the faintest idea of the pile of treasure they were sitting on.

The 54-year-old Ag Tahir did have a penchant for luxury cars.

“He keeps to himself and he does not socialise much although he is well known,’’ said a person who knows him.

He said he had seen the director use most of the luxury cars which were seized by the MACC on Wednesday.

“I’ve seen him in the Range Rover. I believe all the cars in the media pictures are his. I’ve seen him driving those vehicles,” he said.

However, it is not known if the vehicles were registered under under Ag Tahir’s name.

It is learned the cars were seized from the house of one of his family members.

The nine luxury vehicles seized included a Range Rover V8 (worth RM1.1mil), Mercedes Benz C300 (RM308,000), Audi A1 (RM180,000) and Lexus ES (RM260,000).

Others familiar with Ag Tahir said he is from Sabah’s south-western Bongowan in Papar district. He was not known to be a show-off although he did take overseas holidays. He is a father of three – two daughters and one son – with the older daughter married with her own family.

The 52-year-old Teoh, from whose house and office graft investigators seized some RM7.5mil cash and 127 land titles and grants, was described as a very low-profile officer who moved around in an old Toyota Vios.

He lives in a bungalow in Luyang here, was from Sabah’s south-western Beaufort district. However, he had made many trips to Australia and might have been planning to migrate.

An engineer by training, he was from a well-to-do Sabah family involved in construction, development and hotel businesses. Friends and associates describe him as a very helpful person who never flashed his wealth.

“He does not even wear a watch,’’ a friend said.

Teoh had been in the post for about four years and was also in charge of the department’s west coast water operations.

Both have been remanded for a week since Wednesday.

MACC officers have also arrested a contractor with the title of Datuk and his company accountant.

More arrests are expected as they also try to trace money banked into a neighbouring country.

Jewellery seized from Sabah Water Dept duo valued at over RM3mil

 

 
Some of the watches, rings and necklace seized from the homes of the civil servants in Kota Kinabalu.

KOTA KINABALU: Jewelleries that were seized from the two senior officers of the Sabah Water Department following corruption investigations have been valued at more than RM3.6mil.

It is learnt that the valuables seized from department director Awang Tahir Awang Talip (pic) weighed some 14.5kgs, with a bank valuing them at about RM2.74mil.

The ones recovered from the deputy director, Teoh Chee Kong, have been valued at around RM900,000.

Sources said the valuation process of the jewelleries, including watches, gold rings, bracelets and necklaces, was carried out from 10.30am to about 12.15pm on Friday.

Tahir and Teoh have been remanded following their arrest on Tuesday by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officers who discovered over RM114mil, including RM53mil cash, and valuables in their homes and offices.

PWD director claims trial to two charges


KUALA LUMPUR: Malacca’s Public Works Department director Datuk Khalid Omar was charged in a Sessions Court here with two counts of money laundering involving more than RM4mil.

Khalid, 56, was accused of money laundering activities totalling RM2,135,634.13 in his Amanah Saham Didik account on July 1, last year. He also faced a second charge of having RM1,984,797.08 in his Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 account which was the proceeds from illegal activities, on Sept 1, the same year.

The offences were alleged to have been committed at Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad, Menara PNB, Jalan Tun Razak here.

He was charged under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Act 613).

Khalid claimed trial before Judge Azura Alwi yesterday.

Judge Azura then granted deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib’s request to transfer the case to the Sessions Court in Malacca.

On Sept 29, Khalid claimed trial in a Sessions Court in Malacca to 16 counts of corruption and money laundering, involving more than RM1.28mil.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges – 13 for corruption and three for money laundering. Judge Meor Sulaiman had set bail at RM100,000 for the corruption charges and RM150,000 for the money laundering charges with one surety. Khalid posted the bail.

The court set Nov 4 for mention.


TI Malaysia: Set cap on civil servants’ tenure


KUALA LUMPUR: Transparency International Malaysia is calling for a maximum tenure of three years for senior civil servants, following the biggest ever seizure by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) in Sabah.

Its president Datuk Akhbar Satar said putting a cap on the tenure could prevent the officials from getting too close to their clients and being influenced by those with money.

However, those with corrupt intent would surely find a way to cheat, he added.

“Therefore, the most important thing is, the handlers must have integrity,” he said, adding that a crisis of integrity is looming in the country.

On Wednesday, the MACC seized RM114mil worth of cash from the homes and offices of the Sabah Water Department’s director and his deputy, besides also recovering luxury vehicles, watches, jewellery and handbags.

Akhbar said he was surprised the officers could, and dared to, amass the amount of cash and luxury products.

“It’s a red flag if the officers are living beyond their means,” he said.

Citing statistics from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Akhbar said 5% of a company’s revenue is lost to fraud each year.

He said the prevention unit of the MACC and the Malaysian Institute of Integrity should be roped in to train staff members.

“Don’t just train them on how to improve productivity or get promoted. Make them sit for anti-fraud courses from time to time, too.”

For checks and balances, Akhbar suggested that huge projects by government departments must be approved by an oversight committee, a common practice in Britain and many European countries.

Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) founder Cynthia Gabriel said besides limiting the tenure of top government officers, declaration of assets once every few years should also be made compulsory.

She added that annual reports of government departments must be published for the public to keep track of their activities, expenditure and projects.

By Tho Xin Yi The Star/ANN

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