Sabah Finance Minister Masidi Manjun and his special officer have denied a whistleblower’s allegation that a large sum of money was offered as bribes to support the latter’s application for a mineral exploration licence.

The whistleblower, who is a businessperson, today released seven full recordings of his discussions, one of which purportedly took place at Masidi’s office on Jan 11, involving an alleged sum of RM300,000, said to be a portion that had been “handed over” from a full purported amount of RM3 million.

“I do not recall the conversation,” Masidi (above) told Malaysiakini.

“What I remembered was that he (whistleblower) offered to donate to the party, and I responded there was no need for him to do so,” the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) secretary-general said.

Based on the video, Masidi during the conversation had agreed with the whistleblower that the licence issue should be placed on the back burner because mining projects had become controversial.

READ MORE: Sabah videos Part 1: 'RM300k in bag' and 'RM500k in installments'

“The opposition is making noise. You lay low first, jangan kelam-kabut (don’t complicate matters). The CM is being ‘bantai’ (hammered) left and right,” Masidi said.

When the whistleblower asked if the “funds” should be “KIV” (kept in view) as well, the minister replied: “Yes, yes, yes, KIV first. Don’t take the risk.”

The whistleblower then told Masidi that he had “serah” (handed over) the “first RM300,000”.

Commenting further, Masidi today welcomed any investigations to be conducted on the allegation.

“I will give full cooperation to the authorities.

“I am shocked how some people can go all out to malign others with lies and character assassination,” the Karanaan assemblyperson added.

‘Vile slander’

In the same video, the whistleblower also revealed that he had met the minister’s aide, Johari Suhaimin, who confirmed that RM300,000 had been given to Masidi.

“You were in the (minister’s) office when I brought the bag (with the cash)… which I passed to the minister?” asked the businessperson, to which Johari answered in the affirmative.

When contacted this afternoon, Johari, however, described the allegation as “vile slander”.

A screenshot of the video showing minister’s aide Johari Suhaimin

“To me, that is slander. There was no confirmation of anything. This is like a plot created for him (whistleblower) to tell stories. To tell about the RM300,000.

“I did not see anything that was given. I did not see anything,” he told Malaysiakini.

He also claimed that the full video had been “edited” and “did not tell the real story”.

“I leave it to the MACC to investigate, because this is clearly slander,” he said.

Last month, MACC began investigating the corruption claims against Sabah assemblypersons which also implicated Chief Minister Hajiji Noor, after the whistleblower, who admitted to offering the bribes, exposed eight recordings in exchange for a request for protection.

'Money talks': Whistleblower releases full videos on Sabah scandal

'Money talks': Whistleblower releases full videos on Sabah scandal

Sabah videos Part 1: 'RM300k in bag' and 'RM500k in installments'

Sabah videos Part 1: 'RM300k in bag' and 'RM500k in installments'

Sabah videos Part 2: 'RM450k used to settle debts', 'I can return RM500k'

Sabah videos Part 2: 'RM450k used to settle debts', 'I can return RM500k'

Sabah videos Part 3: 'RM400k in cash ma', 'RM360k small amount'

Sabah videos Part 3: 'RM400k in cash ma', 'RM360k small amount'