'What are you trying to hide?' MACC slammed for removing CCTV, erasing phones after breaking into Tei's home

Lawyers for Albert Tei have condemned the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) after its officers removed a CCTV decoder and deleted the contents of mobile phones belonging to the businessman's family members, shortly before masked gunmen from the agency took him away to an undisclosed location today.

This follows a police report lodged by Tei's wife, Lee Pei Rie, hours after about a dozen officers broke into their home.

Lee said she was recording the officers inside her home when she found her husband being forced to lie on the ground, surrounded by a group of armed men.

She said one of them then pointed a gun at her and forced her to surrender her phone.

"The phone was handed over to a Malay woman who forced me to unlock it, and then she deleted the video I had recorded," she said in her report.

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Lee said her mother, her two children aged 13 and 10, a 12-year-old niece, and her maid were also told to unlock their phones and leave them on a table.

"We were all forced to give access to the phones found in my house, including my phone and the phones belonging to my mother, my children, my niece and my maid," she said in the report lodged with Petaling Jaya police.

Lawyers Mahajoth Singh and Zaid Malek, who accompanied Lee, said the action amounted to destroying crucial evidence regarding the conduct of the officers.

"There is a CCTV directly pointing to the living room when all this transpired. So there would have been a recording that would show whether or not guns were pointed at him and his wife. The evidence was taken by MACC. Obviously, they are trying to hide something," Zaid told MalaysiaNow when contacted.

The dramatic events today unfolded as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim faces his greatest challenge following Tei's shocking exposé this week of high-level corruption involving the top office.

On Tuesday, Tei – the man behind explosive videos implicating Sabah Chief Minister and GRS chairman Hajiji Noor and 14 ruling politicians in corrupt practices – revealed that he had spent almost RM630,000 on Anwar's political secretary, Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, in the hope that the latter would help him negotiate with Hajiji to recover the money he paid to several GRS politicians.

Shamsul has since resigned.

Tei showed proof that he paid for renovations, luxury gifts, tailored suits, appliances, furnishings for two properties, as well as cash totalling about RM350,000 for Shamsul.

He also released secretly recorded video of a conversation last week with a woman identified as Shamsul's proxy, who has since identified herself as Sofia Rini Buyong.

In the video, Sofia agreed with Tei's suggestion that the money and gifts he spent on Shamsul were in exchange for help in speaking to Hajiji to recover monies paid to ruling Sabah politicians.

Sofia said it was Shamsul and Anwar's idea that Tei secretly record his conversations with various Sabah politicians, adding that Shamsul had also spoken to Azam about the plan.

She later denied everything she was heard agreeing with Tei, adding that it was a conspiracy to undermine the government.

Both Shamsul and Sofia are also currently in MACC's custody.