PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will charge two Sabah state assemblymen and a member of the public in court this month.

The charges are believed to follow the corruption scandal involving Sabah assemblymen exposed last year, related to mineral mining licences in the state.

MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said that MACC is currently in the process of apprehending and notifying the suspects to set the date for their court appearance.

“I wish to state that there are two suspects from the assemblyman side and one member of the public who are currently in the process for us to carry out arrests and notify them of the date for their court appearance.

“I will not announce the date until this process is completed and I am confident they will be charged in court this month,“ he told Sinar Harian in Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday.

He said this when asked to comment on developments regarding the assemblymen allegedly involved in the scandal exposed last year.

Commenting further, Azam said MACC is currently obtaining the charge date to be set by the Sessions Court for Corruption in the state.

“They are currently in the process of being called for recorded conversations,“ he said.

When asked about the authenticity of the video involving the alleged assemblymen involved in the corruption scandal, Azam informed that the investigation does not rely entirely on evidence from the video.

“I cannot comment further on that matter as it could become sub judice. Certainly evidence will be handed over to the prosecution to evaluate and bring to court if necessary.

“However, we do not rely solely on that evidence, whether it is authentic or not, but also need to consider other evidence.

“This testimony is not just from audio visual; it also depends on testimony from individuals involved. Machines may be able to give one testimony, but we need humans to verify the authenticity of the audio content.

“So, this matter is very technical and I do not want to comment at length because this case already has developments. Now, three individuals will be charged,“ he added.