Some legal professionals believe that the charging of a person with money laundering does not mean possible elements of corruption have been ignored.
Speaking to FMT, Geethan Ram Vincent, a former deputy public prosecutor, said the prosecution will have to prove two things when charging the suspects under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA).
“The prosecution must prove that the money originated from illicit activities and state what the illicit activity was.
“As an example, the illicit activity could be theft, criminal breach of trust or corruption. If it is corruption, it will be raised during the trial,” he said.
Geethan added that charging someone under AMLA instead of corruption also does not mean it is a “lighter” charge.
He was commenting on questions raised by many, including Parti Warisan Sabah president Shafie Apdal, on why the suspects in the alleged scandal were charged with money laundering instead of corruption.
On Oct 22 last year, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) made what was said to be its biggest ever seizure with the recovery of RM114 million from the homes of Sabah Water Department director Awang Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib and his deputy Lim Lam Beng.
The money was reported to have been stashed in cupboards, drawers and a car boot. Also found were 19kg of gold jewellery, 97 designer handbags, and 127 land titles for plots valued at RM30 million. A further RM60 million in bank accounts was frozen.
Awang, his wife Fauziah Piut and Lim were subsequently taken into police custody and charged under AMLA.
On Dec 29, the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court slapped 12 charges on Awang over a sum totalling RM56.9 million, 19 charges on Fauziah involving cash and assets totalling RM2.2million, and four charges on Lim over alleged money laundering involving property and cash totalling RM2.3million.
Recently, Semporna MP Shafie questioned in the Dewan Rakyat on why the trio were charged with money laundering instead of corruption.
Meanwhile, another lawyer, N Sivananthan said it was easier to charge a person under AMLA than corruption.
“For corruption charges, you have to be sure that elements of corruption exist, such as who gave bribes and so on. This could take a long time,” he told FMT.
“With AMLA, when a large amount of money is found and you can’t explain where you got it from, you can be charged straight away,” Sivananthan said.
Shafie: Why charge Sabah Watergate trio with money laundering?