Ex-CEO claims he has proof against CM, denies collusion allegation

Former Sabah Mineral Management (SMM) chief executive officer Jontih Enggihon has denied the allegation of colluding with the whistleblower behind the videos of the alleged corruption scandal.

He also claimed to possess evidence to substantiate his allegation that Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor “abused his powers”.

Jontih claimed the alleged evidence is in the form of “minutes from the SMM board of directors meetings”, his “printed briefing notes to the chief minister” and “text messages from the chief minister”.

“All the evidence is safely kept by someone, somewhere. I am willing to submit them to MACC,” he added in a WhatsApp message.

Responding to a question, Jontih said, unlike the whistleblower, he is not requesting immunity or protection under the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010.

Commenting on the allegation that he acted as a “middle person” between the whistleblower and the state assemblypersons, the former CEO replied: “It’s a total lie.”

“I have never met (Deputy Chief Minister) Shahelmey (Yahya) personally. I don’t know him personally (this sentence was emphasised in capital letters). We have never talked personally face to face or over the phone,” he added.

According to him, he had bumped into Tempasuk assemblyperson Arsad Bistari and his friends on one occasion, but their conversation did not refer to the whistleblower or his business arrangements.

“The whistleblower met the YBs (assemblypersons) on his own initiative,” he added.

Arsad and Shahelmey’s videos were among the five disclosed by the whistleblower to Malaysiakini over the past week.

Arsad has denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the video was “maliciously edited”.

Abuse of power allegation

The video on Jontih was the first to be released on Nov 12. In the video, which was recorded with his consent, he alleged that the chief minister, who is also the SMM chairperson, had interfered in the selection process.

Jontih repeated this allegation in his message, stating: “There is no way for me to approve PL (mining exploration licence) application by myself.”

He also mentioned the names of several other assemblypersons, including Sindumin assemblyperson Yusof Yacob, as those whom he did not know on a personal basis.

Yusof had been roped into the alleged scandal when an audio recording extracted from one of the videos was linked to him. He blamed artificial intelligence but promised to cooperate with MACC investigations.

Jontih also reiterated the allegation that prior to the board meeting, the chief minister would request him to furnish details of the individuals behind the companies involved in the application process.

“One day or a minimum of one hour before (the) meeting, I will brief CM on the whole agenda of the meeting and special focus on the new applications.

“As always, he will ask me who is behind the application. Knowing he will always ask this, I did my homework to find out who is/are the VIPs.

“⁠I will then table the list of pre-approved applications in the board meeting for official approval, which CM chair himself. The decision will be minuted by Cosec (company secretary),” he added.

Jontih also clarified that the “VIPS” are not necessarily assemblypersons, but could also be businesspersons or high-ranking former civil servants.

‘Deeply disappointed’

On the same day, Malaysiakini published Jontih’s video, a MACC report was lodged against him in Sabah.

The former CEO was accused of having ties with the whistleblower when Jontih was still with the Mineral and Geoscience Department.

It was claimed that when Hajiji learned of this, he was “deeply disappointed” and decided not to renew Jontih’s contract with SMM.

Malaysiakini has contacted Hajiji’s office for comment on Jontih’s latest statement.

The whistleblower, who is a businessperson, has eight videos in which there are discussions about returning a sum of money.

He claimed the money was bribes he gave to the politicians to support his application for a mining exploration licence.

However, in the published videos sent, this conversation was omitted. Malaysiakini has sighted all eight recordings in full.

Hajiji has claimed that the videos are aimed at weakening the state government and there were suggestions that Umno, which has an axe to grind against him and the party’s former assemblypersons who backed him during a political crisis last year, could be behind it.

Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin has denied any involvement.

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• MCMC requests Mkini to remove 'RM70m' Sabah video, report

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• Graft exposés: Sabah MP echoes Bung's call for thorough probe

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