Former Sabah Water Department director Ag Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib was convicted on May 19, 2026, of 12 money laundering charges involving more than RM45 million. The offences occurred between October 4 and November 8, 2016, in Sabah and Kuala Lumpur [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

The Sessions Court sentenced the 63-year-old to a total of 96 years’ imprisonment, but all sentences will run concurrently, resulting in an effective jail term of eight years starting from May 19, 2026. He was also fined RM284.3 million, with a default prison term of an additional 78 months if the fine remains unpaid [1, 3, 6, 7, 8].

Judge Abu Bakar Manat ruled the defense explanations were afterthoughts, stating, "The court views the explanations as something conceived after the incident and finds them insufficient to create reasonable doubt or rebut the evidence presented by prosecution witnesses" [8].

Deputy public prosecutor Mahadi Abdul Jumaat described the case as "rare of the rarest," noting the money laundering involved public funds meant for water supply, a basic necessity. He said, "The accused's money laundering was carried out systematically, making it difficult to detect. This embezzled money belongs to the people and should have been used for water supply" [1].

Ag Mohd Tahir faced 11 charges under Section 4(1)(b) and one charge under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 [1, 3, 9, 8].

His wife, Fauziah Piut, 61, and former deputy director Lim Lam Beng, 72, who was charged with possession of assets suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities, were acquitted and discharged due to insufficient evidence [1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 4, 5, 8]. Fauziah had faced 19 charges under Section 4(1)(b), including two joint charges with Ag Mohd Tahir [3, 9, 8].

Ag Mohd Tahir, Fauziah, and Lim were formally charged on December 28, 2016, following investigations into the laundering of public funds intended for water amenities in Sabah [3, 9, 8].

Former deputy director Teo Chee Kong pleaded not guilty to 146 charges in 2016 but was acquitted in 2022 and became a prosecution witness during the trial [9, 10].

The court allowed a stay of execution pending appeal, meaning Ag Mohd Tahir will not begin serving his sentence immediately [3, 6, 7, 8].