‘Nothing to hide’: Malaysia’s Sabah chief minister denies involvement in bribery scandal
Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor is being implicated as the ‘top leader’ in alleged attempts to bribe local elected representatives
The chief minister of Sabah state on Malaysian Borneo has denied alleged attempts to bribe local elected representatives, as a whistle-blower claimed to have received death threats after releasing videos of several politicians allegedly discussing details of the payout.
The allegations, which first surfaced on local news outlet Malaysiakini over the weekend, claimed that video evidence shared by a whistle-blower implicated a group of state assemblymen negotiating hundreds of thousands of ringgit in bribes in exchange for support for a state project.
The videos are believed to have only been seen by Malaysiakini so far.
This Week in Asia has not been able to independently verify the contents of the videos.
Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor on Tuesday said he was aware that he was being implicated as the “top leader” involved in the alleged crime exposed by the whistle-blower.
Hajiji dismissed the bribery claims as “just accusations”, and urged the authorities to also “investigate the one giving the bribe”.
