Comm Jauteh speaking to the press after the Sabah police monthly assembly in Kota Kinabalu on Tuesday (June 13).
KOTA KINABALU: Four people including a “Datuk” have been hauled in by the police for trying to scam contractors by offering projects to construct a yet-to-be-built oil and gas industrial park in northern Sabah.
The suspects are aged between 40 and 61 years old and include a woman, and were arrested by Commercial Crime Investigation Department officers from the state and Kota Kinabalu police headquarters at a hotel here at 4pm on June 5.
Sabah Police Commissioner Comm Datuk Jauteh Dikun said the suspects had attempted to “sell” the projects at the so-called Kudat Oil and Gas Industrial Park (Kogip).
He said none of the suspects, however, had any authority to offer any project or had access to the projects at the said park.
“We are also looking into a claim by one of the suspects that he is a Datuk,” he said after officiating at the state police monthly assembly here on Tuesday (June 13).
From their probe, he said, the suspects’ modus operandi involved asking for deposit payments after offering the projects.
“They were the so-called middlemen to secure the projects despite Kogip not being at the tender phase yet, as it is still under the discussion stage. However, no people or contractors have been cheated as yet,” Comm Jauteh said.
He added that all the suspects were not from Sabah and that they had allegedly committed cheating cases in several other states.
“We have received reports that these suspects were involved in other scams,” he said, adding they have been remanded for investigations under Section 420 for cheating.
Towards this end, Comm Jauteh advised contractors not to make any deposit payments when it comes to obtaining projects.
“We have received numerous complaints. They (contractors) paid the deposit as a means to secure the projects despite not fully knowing if these projects existed in the first place.
"When the project doesn’t materialise, the money then disappears.
“Hence, contractors should be careful of any notice or tender letters concerning projects,” he said.
