The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) raid on the Sabah Water Department’s (JANS) office on 4 October 2016 led to the arrest of two key individuals, namely, the department’s then-director Awang Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib and his then-deputy Teo Chee Kong.

In a case infamously dubbed the Sabah Watergate Scandal, Awang is still awaiting his fate in court. Teo, however, was eventually acquitted.

According to the facts of the case, Teo was charged with 146 counts under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) nearly a year after his arrest. Later, on 18 February 2022, he was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on all counts and was hit with an RM30 million compound which he later paid.

Judge Abu Bakar Manat of the Kota Kinabalu Special Corruption Court had granted the DNAA after being informed that the prosecuting team led by the MACC had opted not to proceed with the case.

Then, in March 2022, Abu Bakar ordered Teo to be acquitted during a mention to update the status of the case. Media reported that the judge made this ruling based on new developments and after the prosecution confirmed that it no longer wished to pursue the case.

On top of the acquittal, the prosecution had also agreed to the defence’s request to revoke and release the forfeited property involving land and bank accounts belonging to Teo and his son, as well as all other restrictions on property and assets.

Teo later became the prosecution's star witness in the case.

As a witness, Teo was cross-examined in March last year by counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan who represented accused Lim Lam Beng, the department's deputy director before Teo.

During this cross-examination, Tan had suggested that Teo’s testimony in the trial was motivated by self-interest. The counsel also made a series of suggestions that Teo gave false testimony against Lim.

Teo, however, disagreed to all these suggestions in court.

The following month, Teo also testified under cross-examination that he was not the mastermind behind a standard price set by JANS, saying he only followed instructions to prepare the physical standard price, not create it.

Later, in August 2023, during cross-examination, the prosecution’s 36th witness, former Beaufort division water engineer, Suhaimi Asbullah, agreed with counsel Tan that an investigation officer involved did not state in his affidavit that Teo had discussed setting a 27.5% collection formula from contractors with Lim.

Suhaimi also agreed to Tan’s suggestion that the investigating officer had stated the 27.5% formula was set by Teo and agreed to by the JANS director at the time, Awang.

Of note is that, at the same time, MACC officer Raja Hamidah Raja Omar had also testified in court that documents, money, jewellery and computers suspected to be related to the Watergate Scandal were seized from Teo’s house.

A conflict of interest

Most recently, in September, Parti Warisan (Warisan) had attempted to explain its termination of nine water concession companies in 2019. These companies included Yuda Water Sdn Bhd and Sahabat Megajuta Sdn Bhd.

According to a press statement released by the party, checks with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) revealed that Yuda Water is owned by Teo’s brother, Teo Chit Ming @ Teo Chee Ming, while Sahabat Megajuta is owned by another of his siblings.

These companies were awarded 20-year contracts to handle the maintenance of several Water Treatment Plants (WTP) in Sabah. Warisan eventually terminated their contracts on 12 December 2018, giving them a 30-day termination notice effective 15 January 2019 – nearly three years after the Sabah Watergate Scandal.

The Kota Kinabalu sessions court has fixed 4 December to deliver a decision on the RM61.5 million Sabah Watergate case.