Former Sabah DIDR Director Charged With 20 Counts Of Abetment Involving Over RM100,000

KOTA KINABALU, March 12 (Bernama) -- Former Sabah Department of Industrial Development and Research (DIDR) director Tseu Kei Yue pleaded not guilty at the Special Corruption Court here today to 20 counts of abetting staff members in obtaining valuable items from companies that had official dealings with the department three years ago.

Tseu, 58, who is currently serving as deputy director of the Sabah Economic Planning Unit, made the plea after all the charges were read out before Judge Elsie Primus.

According to the charges, he was accused of abetting several staff members of the department to obtain valuable items without payment from several companies that had official working relations with the department, involving items worth more than RM100,000.

The offences were allegedly committed between December 2023 and January 2024 at several locations, namely 15 charges in Kota Kinabalu, three in Tawau and two in Sandakan, involving items such as mobile phones, washing machines, laptops and tablets.

The charges were framed under Section 109 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 165 of the same law, which provides for imprisonment of up to two years, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor for Sabah Rustam Sanip appeared for the prosecution, while the accused was represented by counsel Bartholomew Jingulam.

The court allowed the accused bail of RM30,000 with a RM10,000 deposit, with additional conditions that he report to the MACC office every two months, surrender his passport to the court, and not interfere with prosecution witnesses.

The court fixed April 24 for remention.

--BERNAMA