Tei is a suspect, Chegubard was a complainant.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Azam Baki has said that neither businessperson Albert Tei nor Port Dickson Bersatu chief Badrul Hisham Shaharin qualifies as a whistleblower.
Azam explained that Tei was involved in the crimes he later exposed, while Badrul, popularly known as Chegubard, was a complainant who reported information he received to the police, prompting MACC action.
“Chegubard was a complainant. He went to the police station, made a report, and only then did he make a public statement. He was a complainant, not a ‘whistleblower’.
“Another thing, he was not even involved in the crime in question,” Azam said.
“Unlike Tei, he (Tei) was involved in the crime in question. That’s the fact. It’s just the classification – he (Tei) is not a complainant but someone who is involved as a suspect,” he added.
Since November 2024, Tei has released videos, screenshots and documents allegedly implicating leaders from Gabungan Rakyat Sabah. He claimed that politicians accepted money from him in exchange for mineral exploration licences, which were later cancelled, prompting him to expose the alleged scandal.
Following MACC investigations, former assistant minister Andi Suryady Bandy, Sindumin assemblyman Yusof Yacob and Tei were charged in court in June last year.
Tei was charged with two counts of offering bribes to assemblypersons under Section 16(a)(A) of the MACC Act, which carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the bribe amount or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
He was also arrested on Nov 28 last year and remanded for six days before being charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Dec 4, and the following day at the Shah Alam Sessions Court. Tei was charged with bribing Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s former senior political secretary, Shamsul Iskandar Akin.
Meanwhile, Badrul had alleged that a forensic review of documents he received anonymously showed monthly transactions amounting to tens of thousands of ringgit being credited into the accounts of a senior army officer and his family members.
His complaint led to the appointment of army chief Hafizuddeain Jantan as the next armed forces chief being put on hold, despite the decision having been made at an Armed Forces Council meeting and receiving royal assent.
On Dec 29, Azam confirmed that the senior army officer is being investigated under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act 2009. The commission also seized six bank accounts believed to belong to the officer and his family.