A Parti Warisan (Warisan) lawmaker has urged the Sabah government to be more transparent regarding an alleged RM1.5 billion water project involving a concessionaire.

Speaking during the debate of the Sabah Budget 2025, Tanjung Aru assemblyman Datuk Junz Wong noted that the project allegedly involved Tegas Potensi Sdn Bhd and would be carried out over a period of 15 years.

“I want to find out about what I suspect to be a bigger scandal than the last water scandal,” he said in the state assembly, referring to the 2016 Sabah Watergate Scandal.

“This year the water department (JANS) was allocated RM729 million and I want to ask the minister of finance, is the MOF (finance ministry) financing, as PFI (private finance initiative), a proposed project by a
company named Tegas Potensi Sdn Bhd involving RM1.5 billion for 15 years.”

Wong also asked the ministry that if the project was indeed being financed, at what stage of implementation was the project currently and whether the RM729 million allocation to the ministry was being used.

“What is the status of this proposal and what is the progress?”

Wong’s question comes amidst rumours that there have been attempts to recreate a scheme similar to that which led to the discovery of the Sabah Watergate Scandal.

Teo was one of two key individuals who were first arrested in 2016 by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). However, he was eventually acquitted and later became a star witness for the prosecution.

There have been allegations that Teo’s testimonies during the Watergate trial have been motivated by self-interest. Teo has rejected these claims.

In September, Parti Warisan (Warisan) issue a press statement claiming that checks with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) had shown that two concessionaires linked to Teo were awarded 20-year contracts to handle the maintenance of several Water Treatment Plants (WTP) in Sabah.

Warisan eventually terminated these contracts in 2019 after finding that maintenance work had not been carried out despite payments having been made.

The concessionaires were Yuda Water Sdn Bhd, owned by Teo’s brother, and Sahabat Megajuta Sdn Bhd, owned by another of Teo’s siblings.

In 2016, MACC arrested both Teo, who was JANS deputy director at the time, and the department’s then-director Awang Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib.

Awang remains in trial awaiting the court’s decision.

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