On alert: Comm Jauteh (centre) speaking to the press after the Sabah police monthly assembly in Kota Kinabalu.
KOTA KINABALU: Four people, including a “Datuk”, have been nabbed for trying to scam contractors by offering projects to construct a yet-to-be-built oil and gas industrial park in northern Sabah.
Aged between 40 and 61, the suspects, who included a woman, 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 that none of them had the authority to offer any projects or had access to the projects at the 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 yesterday.
Comm Jauteh said that the investigation showed that the suspects would ask 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 in the discussion stage,” he said.
Fortunately, he said that no one had been cheated by them yet.
He said all the suspects were not from Sabah, adding that they had allegedly committed cheating cases in other states.
They have been remanded for investigations under Section 420 for cheating.
Comm Jauteh advised contractors against making any deposit payments when seeking projects.
“We have received numerous complaints. They (the contractors) pay the deposit as a means to secure the projects despite not fully knowing whether these projects exist in the first place.
“When the project doesn’t materialise, the money disappears.
“Contractors should exercise caution when receiving any notices or tender letters related to projects,” he said.
