Sabah graft scandal: 'Leaders charged in court should step down'

Summary

• A Warisan leader urges Sabah state assemblypersons implicated in corruption scandals to step down.

• Mudi Dubing slams Sindumin rep Yusof Yacob for claiming a video depicting him was AI-generated.

• Umno supreme council member Puad Zarkashi questions why only two people were charged over the scandal.

All Sabah leaders implicated in integrity issues should step down from their positions, said Warisan supreme council member Mudi Dubing.

The call was made after Sabah state assistant minister Andi Suryady Bandy and Sindumin representative Yusof Yacob were slapped with bribery charges at the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court yesterday.

In a statement, Mudi said leaders who have integrity issues should not continue to be in power or defended with “lame excuses”.

“This is not a mere personal issue. This is about the integrity of the administration and how the trust placed by Sabahans has been betrayed.

“As a party that is based on the struggle of the rakyat, we stress that leaders who have integrity issues should step down and are not to be defended using lame excuses and purported technical issues,” he said.

Andi was accused of receiving RM150,000 in cash from businessperson Tei Jiann Cheing - also known as Albert - on May 12, 2023, in exchange for facilitating a mining prospecting licence application for Syarikat Sinaran Hayat Sdn Bhd.

Yusof was charged with receiving RM200,000 in cash from Tei at the Hilton Hotel’s rooftop bar in Kota Kinabalu on March 6, 2023. The bribe was allegedly meant to help process a prospecting licence for Syarikat Nusa Kini Sdn Bhd.

Tei, a businessperson from Selangor and the whistleblower in the case, was also charged with two counts of offering bribes to the assemblypersons.

Andi is currently the Sabah industrial development and entrepreneurship assistant minister while Yusof is the chairperson of the state-owned company Qhazanah Sabah Berhad.

The duo was among a slew of Sabah state representatives implicated in an alleged corruption scandal involving mineral exploration licensing.

The scandal broke late last year when Tei released a series of video clips showing the state leaders purportedly discussing bribes.

Mudi slams AI claim as an excuse

In his statement, Mudi zeroed in on Yusof’s claim that a video clip depicting him was AI-generated.

“If the video was really fake and had been manipulated using AI technology, how come the authorities could get solid evidence to bring him to court?

“The truth has finally come out.

“Yusof was not humiliated by any other people. He was the one who caused embarrassment to himself, the institution that he represents, and the (state) administration that allows such individuals to continue holding important positions,” he said.

Adding further, Mudi called on the authorities to be transparent in enforcing the law and not to practice double standards when dealing with cases that involve politicians.

Meanwhile, Umno supreme council member Puad Zarkashi also raised questions over the decision to prosecute only Andi and Yusof.

In a social media post, he questioned the logic behind the move as the duo had no authority to approve mining licences in Sabah.

“Prosecuting them has become an anti-climactic affair. Both of them are linked to Umno, where Andi’s membership in Umno had been suspended, while Yusof had applied to join Umno after he left Warisan.

“There is a prediction that Andi and Yusof would not be fielded on Umno tickets in the upcoming Sabah state election. Hopefully, that was not the reason why they were prosecuted for the sake of prosecuting someone.

“Their indictment does not give a good narrative to the government. The government has also become defensive. Why were only the two charged?”

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