Tuesday June 24, 2008 MYT 2:19:39 PM

ACA puts off questioning of SAPP's Yong

By MUGUNTAN VANAR

KOTA KINABALU: The Anti Corruption Agency has put off its planned questioning of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee over allegations made in the Tan Sri Kasitah Gaddam graft trial.

Yong, whose party recently proposed a no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister, was supposed to have been questioned at 2.30pm Tuesday by an ACA team from Putrajaya, according to a Bernama report on Monday.

“I have been informed by the ACA that the team is only coming in today. So maybe they will call me tomorrow or in the next few days,” Yong said when contacted by The Star.

The former chief minister, who has previously described the investigations as "politically motivated," saying he had given a statement four to five years ago in connection with the 12-year-old case, added that he was not aware of what the team wanted from him.

“Maybe they want to record my statement again and let me go, detain me or charge me,” said Yong, who on Monday recalled his party’s two MPs -- Datuk Eric Enchin Majimbun (Sepanggar) and Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui (Tawau) -- from Parliament amid claims of personal threats against the duo, their families and other party members.

ACA Director-General Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan dismissed claims that the investigations were politically motivated.

Its director of investigations Datuk Shukri Abdul said officers from ACA headquarters would handle the investigation and would call in “everyone” believed to have beeen involved in the case for questioning, including Yong.

The ACA's focus would be on the evidence given by former director of Briskmark Enterprise Sdn Bhd Datuk Wasli Mohd Said, a witness in the Tan Sri Kasitah Gaddam case -- he had told the High Court last Thursday that he paid RM5mil to Yong’s agents.

The ACA will conduct its initial investigations under Section 15 for abuse of power and Section 11(a) for accepting bribes, both under the Anti-Corruption Act.

Wasli, who was the general manager of the Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB), had testified that he had met Yong regularly at his office to brief him about the proposed management buyout of 40% shares in Sapi Plantation owned by SLDB.

He was testifying in the trial of former Land and Cooperative Development Minister Kasitah, who is alleged to have used his position as SLDB chairman for financial gain by taking part in the decision to approve the proposed sale of 16.8 million Sapi shares held by SLDB to Briskmark.