Tuesday 2 October 2012

FRIENDSHIP’ TURNED NIGHTMARE?




By : FMT STAFF

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Chief Minister’s office is keenly watching an ongoing court case involving a businessman who Chief Minister Musa Aman has previously claimed he did not know.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) case against one Michael Chia Tien Foh has got Musa’s office sufficiently hot and bothered that it has even 'advised' the mainstream media to avoid mention of the case, sources said.

Most have taken the advisory to heart and there is little news in the mainstream media that the MACC case against the businessman was winding its way through the courts until one newspaper unexpectedly published a court decision that Musa’s bogeyman must face trial.

The Sabah Chief Minister has been haunted by the controversial businessman since 2008 when he was arrested in Hong Kong as he was about to exit the country with a bag stuffed with cash amounting to some S$16 million.

In the subsequent investigations, Chia reportedly told the Hong Kong’s Independent Commission on Anti-Corruption (ICAC) that the money was not his and actually belonged to Musa.

Musa, who also heads Umno in resource-rich Sabah, is still the subject of ongoing concurrent investigations in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland involving a Swiss UBS bank account under his name that allegedly has $100 million.

The Swiss prosecutor has stated that the government would freeze the account if the Malaysian government requested they do so.

Recently Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak revealed that investigation reports on the Musa’s cases were with the Attorney-General Gani Patail.

But the opposition has grabbed hold of the scandal and refuses to let go, alleging that the trail of alleged illegal dealings leads right into Najib’s office.

Chia ordered to enter defence

PKR vice president, Tian Chua, has claimed that leaked MACC investigation papers disclosed that the Sabah Chief Minister told investigators that the 100 million dollars under his name in the UBS account was not his but Umno’s and as such directly implicates Najib.

Now that the controversial Sabah businessman has been ordered to enter his defence on a charge of attempting to cheat another local businessman over the right to log and extract commercial timber at the Kalabakan Forest Reserve, Musa is furtively watching the case.

On Aug 24, Sandakan High Court judge Supang Lian set aside the acquittal of Chia by the Sessions Court and set Sept 12 for the mention of Chia’s case at the Sessions Court.

Supang, in allowing the prosecution’s appeal against Chia on Aug 24, however, dismissed the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal of another businessman Lo Man Heng jointly charged with Chia ruling that the link between Lo and the offence had not been established.

Both Chia and Lo, who were charged under Section 420 of Penal Code, had been acquitted by the Sessions Court on Sept 23 last year without their defence being called.

The two were charged with attempting to cheat one Agus Hassan of Syarikat Peluamas Sdn Bhd by deceiving him into believing that there were three conditions that had to be fulfilled in order to obtain the letter concerning the logging operation of Coupe BW12/02: Extraction and Purchasing of Commercial Timber at Kalabakan Forest Reserve.

According to the charge, the three conditions were namely to surrender back the purchase of 100,000 cubic metres of logs signed on May 23, 2004 to Rakyat Berjaya Sdn Bhd /Innoprise Corporation Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Yayasan Sabah.

The second condition was to pay RM3 million as political funds to Umno Sabah and the third condition was to pay a commission of RM25 per cubic metre on logs extracted by Sysrikat Peluamas Sdn Bhd at Gunung Rara Forest Reserve (Benta Wawasan Coupe).

The charge stated that they had dishonestly induced Agus through one Chong Siak Nyen to deliver a Power of Attorney dated June 22, 2004 that gave the purchasing of 100,000 metric cube of logs to a company allegedly owned by Parti Umno Sabah and pay RM2.5mil allegedly to for Parti Umno Sabah’s political fund. The offences were allegedly committed in June 2004.

MACC deputy public prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais and Joyce Blaisus represented the prosecution while Chia and Lo were represented by Francis Wong and James Tsai respectively.

According to some of those following the case, all of whom refused to speak on the record as they were recounting private discussions and offering criticism, one editor allegedly so upset to be at the receiving end of a lambasting from Musa’s office for publishing the prosecutors statement on the case, the person requested they issue a clarification. (FMT)

27 comments:

  1. isu kitar semula...tidak perlu dipercayai dan dipedulikan..

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    Replies
    1. We shouldn't waste so much time about this issue again.

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    2. No need to brag this issue.

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    3. In fact, this issue is merely to gain people attention.

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    4. Indeed, they are desperately need attention.

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    5. I'm not surprised with those attacks. After all, they are babies who seek various kinds of ways to knock down a person

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    6. Isu ini akan mendapat sambutan di golongan awam, itulah dikitar semula.

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    7. Isu yang di ulang-ulang.. buat masa sahaja.

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  2. musa aman tidak bersalah selagi tidak dibuktikan bersalah dalam mahkamah..

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  3. Musa Aman, Sabah’s Chief Minister denied that he had any business relationship with the timber trade ‘fixer’ Michael Chia.

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    1. Hundreds of documents that have been released along with the testimony of industry insiders, are false.

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    2. “ I wish to put it on record once again that I have no business association whatsoever with an individual named Michael Chia” said Musa Aman.

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    3. Musa denied but investigation still needed to ensure they is zero relation to the matter.

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  4. CM Datuk Seri Musa Aman mahu penjawat awam negeri dan persekutuan untuk bekerjasama memastikan pelaksanaan yang lancar dan menjayakan projek pembangunan

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  5. Ketua Menteri Sabah Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Hj Aman berkata dakwaan rasuah yang dilemparkan kepadanya oleh pemberi maklumat dari laman sesawang Sarawak Report merupakan tindakan memfitnah dan konspirasi yang dilakukan oleh sesetengah pihak yang mempunyai agenda untuk menumbangkan kerajaan Barisan Nasional, yang selama ini membawa banyak pembangunan dan peningkatan kebajikan rakyat.

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    1. KM dengan tegas mengatakan bahawa beliau tidak ada kaitan perniagaan apa-apa dengan individu bernama Michael Chia

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    2. KM mengatakan bahawa dakwaan itu diterajui oleh musuh politiknya dan individu terdesak yang akan melakukan apa saja cara untuk mendapatkan keuntungan terutama menjelang tibanya pilihan raya yang akan diadakan tidak lama lagi.

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    3. Kenyataan KM yang ditujukan kepada orang di luar sana yang masih menggunakan dakwaaan kitar semula untuk sampai di atas setiap kali pilihanraya tiba. Rakyat Sabah boleh membuat keputusan mereka sendiri berdasarkan kepada rekod kerja beliau. Tiada orang tidak berwajah dan tidak bernama yang menggunakan blog untuk mencapai kepentingan politik mereka.

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  6. Tidak hairan kalau ada pihak yang cuba memutarbelit cerita mengenai kes ini. Sudah kerap isu ini dipermainkan tapi tidak ada kebenaran dalam tuduhan tersebut. Kita patut berbangga mempunyai pemimpin seperti Datuk Musa ini.

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    Replies
    1. Datuk Musa telah banyak memberi pembangunan kepada Sabah, tapi masih ada juga yang tidak berpuas hati.

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  7. Dari kadar kemiskinan di Sabah pula kita dapat lihat penurunan. Mungkin benar Sabah Negeri termiskin. Tapi yang pasti kadar kemiskinan di Sabah semakin menurun. Daripada 24 peratus, kadar itu berjaya diturunkan dan kini kadar kemiskinan hanya 15 peratus.

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  8. Biar apa pun orang mahu cakap tentang Datuk Musa semua itu tidak bermakna langsung. Kita perlu melihat fakta pembangunan Sabah sendiri. Itulah yang patut kita lihat dan bukannya dengar dari pihak lain. Kerajaan sekarang sedang berkerjasama dengan syarikat swasta bagi membantu membangunkan Negeri Sabah ini.Kadar pelaburan swasta juga turut meningkat.

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  9. Sehingga kini Musa masih tidak dimabil tindakan, terbukti beliau tidak terlibat!

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  10. Masing-masing ada misi sendiri untuk dicapai.

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  11. Sering juga Musa dikaitkan kes rasuah.

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