Albert lodges police report against Hajiji over Sabah entry ban

Summary

• Whistleblower Albert Tei lodges a police report against Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor, claiming the latter abused his power by barring him from attending his corruption case in Kota Kinabalu.

• Tei says the ban disrupted the MACC’s probe into the mining licence scandal and shields VVIPs from facing prosecution.

Whistleblower Albert Tei has lodged a police report against Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor, claiming the latter has interfered in the judicial process by preventing the former from attending his court case in the state.

In the police report sighted by Malaysiakini, Tei claimed that Hajiji had overstepped his powers as the chief minister, as the politician has no right to prevent him from attending his corruption case at the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court.

"If I cannot enter Sabah and cannot appear in court, it means that the MACC investigation will be disrupted and the prosecution process by the Attorney-General's Chambers against more than a dozen assemblypersons and the state speaker involved in the mining licence corruption scandal will be stopped and forcibly closed.

"Finally, all the big VVIPs involved in corrupt activities will be freed from facing legal action - not one VVIP will be punished under corruption offences," he said.

The police report was lodged at 1.34pm today at the Bandar Kinrara police station in Selangor.

On Oct 3, Tei initiated legal action against Hajiji, demanding the politician's written explanation for banning him from entering the state.

This followed the Sept 22 incident in which immigration stopped Tei upon arrival at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport, where he travelled to attend a case mention at the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court the next day.

He is facing court proceedings related to the Sabah mining scandal.

According to Tei’s lawyer, Mahajoth Singh, an immigration officer identified as “Mimie” told the businessperson that he has been barred from entering Sabah due to “restriction from the Chief Minister’s Office”.

Tei wants Hajiji probed

Commenting further, Tei claimed that Hajiji has abused his power in instituting the ban.

"The purpose of my filing this police report is to urge the police to immediately conduct an investigation into Hajiji regarding the various allegations of misconduct against him, which are criminal offences," he explained.

He said that Hajiji's action had violated his fundamental rights to defend himself in court.

Tei had exposed a mining scandal allegedly involving leaders of Hajiji’s Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition.

On June 30, Tei was jointly charged with Sindumin assemblyperson Yusof Yacob and Tanjung Batu assemblyperson Andi Suryady Bandy at the Corruption Court over alleged cash payments linked to mineral prospecting licence applications.

All three had pleaded not guilty.

According to the charge sheets, Yusof allegedly accepted RM200,000 in cash from Tei at a Kota Kinabalu hotel on March 6, 2023, while Andi is accused of receiving RM150,000 in cash from Tei on May 12, 2023, outside his residence.

Tei is facing charges of offering bribes to both assemblypersons under Section 16(b)(A) of the MACC Act 2009, carrying a penalty of up to 20 years’ jail and fines of not less than five times the bribe amount or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

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