Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) chief Yong Teck Lee wants the authorities to conduct a full probe on his tenure as the chief minister.

He also wants the probe to include Saham Amanah Sabah (SAS) activities from its inception on June 23, 1994 to the present day.

Yong was chief minister under the Barisan Nasional's (BN) two-year rotation system, from May 1996 to May 1998.

"All facts must be made known to the public. Do not hide the facts. Facts do not change, opinions do," said Yong ( below ).

yong teck lee "The facts will probably shock Johnny Mositun, Yee Moh Chai (Industry Technology and Resource Development Minister) and Chin Tek Ming (PBS lawyer)."

Yong decided to break his silence on the unit trust issue after a thinly-veiled attack by Sabah deputy speaker Johnny Mositun that he (Yong) was hiding behind his Youth chief Edward Dagul.

Mositun said yesterday that he stood by his recent statement on Yong and the SAS, and was unperturbed by a police report lodged against him by Sapp Youth.

The Sapp chief deplored Mositun's remarks on New Year's Day which mentioned only his name, and said it was "unprovoked and out of the blue".

He said it was mischievious and tantamount to casting aspersions on his reputation and character.

Yong, however, did not say if he intended to institute legal action against the deputy speaker to clear his name.

"His (Mositun's) mention of my name was neither neutral nor positive," said Yong.

"He did not mention any other chief minister as though no units (of SAS) were bought during their time. He cannot feign ignorance."

Yong recalled that Yee once took a keen interest in SAS based on the suspicion that he (Yong) was somehow involved in the "fiasco" over the state-sponsored unit trust scheme.

Yee's interest even included condemning the BN state government during the 1999 General Election on SAS among other issues, added Yong.

At that time, Yee's Parti Bersatu Sabah was in the opposition.

Yong lamented the fact that Yee had suddenly lost the urge to speak out for the people, particularly the investors in SAS.

"I wonder why," said Yong. "My police report of June 26, 2007 says that Yee is in possession of information on malpractices involving SAS.

"If I have done anything wrong, then this BN government has a duty to expose me so that people will know what a bad chief minister I've been."

Start probe immediately

Yong does not want the BN to wait until the next General Election nears before commencing a probe against him and the unit trust scheme.

He reiterated that he wants a probe to be initiated immediately so that the people can know the whole truth and make a fair judgment as soon as possible.

Yong recalled that the then Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) director Ahmad Said Hamdan had issued a statement on him on June 20, 2008 precisely at the time when the Sapp supreme council was meeting to consider a no-confidence motion on then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

"The ACA director said that I was under investigation for something that happened 13 years ago," said Yong. "It was intended to scare the BN MPs from voicing out support for the no confidence motion."

The ACA director's statement, according to Yong, was a contradiction in terms. Just three days earlier, on June 17, the Prime Minister's department had faxed Yong a nomination form to be appointed a Senator.

Yong added he declined because he knew that a person nominated for the Senate had to have his background investigated and cleared of income tax evasion, corruption and other criminal cases.

"ISA, ACA, OSA are political weapons that can only work if the people fear them. Once fear is missing, then the weapons are useless," said Yong. "I will not allow Sapp's struggle to be compromised because of threats and continuing conspiracy against me and the party."

musa aman pc in sabah 190608 02 Yong recalled that he had pledged at the time of the party's pullout from the BN on Sept 17, 2008 that he was prepared to be charged for any wrong-doing and accept the consequences.

The SAS issue broke into the open after Mositun came out publicly and praised Chief Minister Musa Aman ( right ) for steering the unit trust scheme out of troubled waters.

Last August, the state government purchased 800 million new units in SAS giving the ailing scheme a much-needed impetus and raising the unit price from 0.17 sen to 0.25 sen.

Mositun also took pot shots at Yong who was chief minister at the time of the 1997/98 Asian Currency Crisis which sent share prices plunging in the region.

SAS units, initially sold at RM1 per unit, plunged to 0.10 sen within a short period.

SAS, at that time, was linked to a Sabah-based Second Board counter which saw its share price rise from less than RM2 per share to a little over RM200 per share in a matter of months.

Mositun's 'offending' statement was in conjunction with a five per cent dividend payout by SAS for the year just ended. No dividends were announced in 2008.

Musa, who is also Finance Minister, had announced on Dec 29 that SAS recorded a gross profit of RM77,263, 695 as at Dec 15 last year.

The 54,122 SAS investors hold 449.3 million units, according to Saham Sabah Berhad.

Sapp Youth want police to carry out a probe to determine if there was evidence of criminal wrong-doing involving the SAS.

The youth wing also wants Mositun hauled in for allegedly implying there's evidence of crime involving the unit trust scheme. If so, the party wants Mositun to be put on the carpet for concealing evidence of a crime.

Dagul stressed the police had to come in after Mositun's remarks in the local media.

The Deputy Speaker allegedly linked the purchase of the poorly-performing unit trusts to the tenure of Yong as chief minister.