'RM40mil smuggled cash not for Musa but for Sabah Umno'

Investigation papers submitted to the attorney-general by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) show that RM40 million a Sabah businessman was caught with in trying to smuggle into Malaysia from Hong Kong were political contributions to the state Umno and not for Chief Minister Musa Aman.

Issue

Sabah Timber Corruption Scandal 2012: Corruption cases related to bribes, kickbacks,money laundering around timber concessions in Sabah involving several politicians, including 35 charges of corruption involving (USD63 million) RM243 Million

Directly implicated parties

Michael Chia: A Malaysian businessman arrested by Hong Kong ICAC for trafficking and laundering SGD16 million for flight bound for Kuala Lumpur.

Indirectly implicated parties

Musa Aman: Musa Bin Haji Aman is the 14th and former Chief Minister of Sabah in Malaysia, in office from March 2003 to May 2018 for 15 years. He was also the Sabah finance minister, the chairman of United Malays National Organisation for Sabah, and the older half brother of Anifah Aman, former Foreign Minister of Malaysia.

Implicated parties through circumstantance

Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz: Dato' Sri Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz is a Malaysian politician from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in the previously ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Nazri was the Member of Parliament of Malaysia for the Padang Rengas constituency in Perak, representing UMNO since 2004 until 2022. He now serves as the 17th Malaysian Ambassador to the United States

Disclosing Parties

Source

Link

Hazlan Zakaria, Malaysiakini, (11 Oct, 2012). 'RM40mil smuggled cash not for Musa but for Sabah Umno'. Retrieved 09 Jun, 2020, from https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/211387

File(s)

Notes

“The funds were contributions to the Sabah Umno liaison body and not for the personal use of the chief minister,” Minister in The Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz (right) states in a parliamentary written reply to Batu MP Chua Tian Chang, who is better known as Tian Chua.

In the same reply, Nazri also said that the MACC has concluded that "no element of corruption was proven" in the case.

On Aug 14, 2008, the businessman, who has been identified as Michael Chia, was caught red-handed at the Hong Kong International Airport with Singapore currency worth the RM40 million in his luggage before be could board a flight to Kuala Lumpur.