KOTA KINABALU (June 19): Yayasan Sabah, which is also known as the Sabah Foundation (SF), is suing its former chairman Tan Sri Musa Aman for breach of fiduciary duty.

The RM872 million suit was filed at the Kota Kinabalu High Court. Musa, who is also former chief minister, was named as the sole defendant, according to the court document sighted by theedgemarkets.com today.

The purpose of the set-up of SF, as stated in the legal document, is to give opportunities to its citizens to get ample education and higher education facilities besides assisting the poor.

The suit came on the heels of the High Court earlier this month deciding to grant Musa acquittal after the prosecution dropped 46 charges of money laundering and graft charges of RM243 million.

The SF in its statement of claim (SOC) said the foundation was formed in 1966.

It was given a RM1 million grant to start off in 1970 and in the same year it was also given a 100-year lease of 3,300 square mile of virgin forests.

The purpose of the 3,300 square miles of forests, the document stated, is to be used as a timber concession for the foundation to generate its own income.

The document stated that Musa was SF chairman from March 2003 to May 2018 and the foundation alleged that he, as chief minister of the state and chairman of the foundation, engaged in an elaborate scheme for personal gains where defined areas within its concession were systematically sold off to selected timber companies determined by him.

The SOC further alleged that Michael Chia was said to be his proxy to divert the monies given by companies awarded with the timber concession and put into foreign accounts like in British Virgin Islands and then into Chia's UBG and HSBC accounts in Hong Kong and Singapore.

The monies were then fraudulently transferred into one Richard Christopher Barnes' accounts at UBG and HSBC in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Barnes, the document claimed, was Musa's legal adviser.

The SF alleged some of the monies were transferred to Umno Sabah when Musa was its liaison chief and stated that it was not the purpose of the set-up of the foundation for the funds to be transferred to a political party.

The foundation also claimed that Musa had transferred money out of the SF funds to his two sons while they were studying in Australia.

On this ground, the SF is making eight separate claims against the former Sabah chief minister totalling RM872 million following the breach of fiduciary duty in the loss of the timber concession.

It is also seeking interests and other relief deemed necessary by the court.

Normally in civil suits the burden of proof is slightly lower than that in criminal cases where it is on a balance of probabilities as compared to beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases.