KOTA KINABALU: The Sessions Court here will decide on Jan 30 whether the trial for Sabah Water Department (SWD) former deputy director Teo Chee Kong will be held simultaneously with three other accused in the Sabah Water scandal.
The three - former Sabah Water Department director Awang Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib, 54, his wife Fauziah Piut, 51, and retired department deputy director Lim Lam Beng, 62 - are scheduled to start trial next month.
In Teo’s case management proceedings today, judge Abu Bakar Manat ordered the prosecution to send a formal application for the joint trial.
He also set Jan 25 for the defence to respond to the prosecution's application, and Jan 30 for the court to decide.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Tengku Amir Zaki Tengku Abdul Rahman’s application for the joint trial was objected by the defence team led by Roland Cheng due to preparation time, as the three accused had a year to prepare.
The defence also requested the documents regarding the offences of the trio be given to them to see case similarities or connection.
Teo, 53, on Dec 13 claimed trial to 146 charges of money laundering involving RM32.93 million.
All charges were under Section 4(1)(a) and Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001.
Teo and Awang Mohd Tahir were remanded by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in October 2016 during a probe into the mishandling of funds for water infrastructure projects in this State before being released on bail.
On Dec 29, 2016, Awang Mohd Tahir and Fauziah had pleaded not guilty to 31 money-laundering charges involving RM59.1 million, as well two counts of possessing 575 pieces of jewellery and 346 other valuable items, acquired through illegal means.
Lim meanwhile was charged with four counts of money-laundering involving RM2.38 million.
The dates of the trio’s trial was fixed from Feb 5 to 9, Feb 20 to 23, March 5 to 8, and March 19 to 22.
The trial was supposed to commence in July last year but was delayed due to legal technicalities.
Meanwhile in a different proceeding, the court was informed that Awang Mohd Tahir and Fauziah had changed their counsel, and were now represented by Marcel Jude Joseph and Nurul Rafeeqa Afdul Mutolip.