Anwar, I'm not afraid of you, but hands off my family, warns Albert Tei

The man at the centre of explosive revelations that have shaken Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's office with one of the most damaging corruption scandals in recent years said he would not be intimidated by the show of force against him.

Albert Tei, emerging six days after his dramatic arrest by armed and masked officers of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), said he would not remain silent despite the way he was ambushed and had guns pointed at him.

"It doesn't matter if you point your guns at me. I will bear the consequences," said Tei, who last week released damning evidence of corruption involving Anwar's political secretary, Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin.

Tei's shocking claims on Nov 25 were supported by screenshots of WhatsApp chats, receipts, and a secretly recorded video with a woman named Sofia Rini Buyong, whom Tei identified as Shamsul's proxy.

Tei and Shamsul were today respectively charged with four counts of giving and receiving RM176,829.03 in gratification. The prosecution has meanwhile announced Sofia as a key witness.

Tei first came to prominence late last year after he released more than a dozen secretly recorded video clips of Sabah ruling politicians admitting to him that they received money in exchange for mineral licences.

In the secretly recorded video of his conversation with Sofia, she was heard telling Tei that the plan for him to secretly record the Sabah politicians was devised by Shamsul with Anwar's approval, adding that MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki was also briefed about it.

According to Tei, he was asked to make the secret recordings after he approached Shamsul, seeking his help to speak to Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor to recover the money paid to several GRS assemblymen.

Tei claimed that while his money was never returned, he had spent almost RM630,000 on Shamsul.

Tei also claimed that Anwar wanted to use the videos he recorded of the Sabah politicians to blackmail them into remaining loyal to the government.

Three days after the revelation, at least a dozen MACC officers broke into Tei's home in Puchong, where he claimed at least six pistols were pointed at him.

'Don't touch my family'

Tei said he was prepared to bear the consequences for exposing high-level corruption.

"I was the one who made this scandal public, from Sabah to Anwar. But don't touch my family. They even pointed their guns at my wife. I cannot accept this at all," he told reporters outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, where he spoke at length in both Malay and Mandarin.

"As a father and a husband, I have a responsibility to protect them. They were all threatened."

Recalling what happened during the Nov 28 raid at his house, Tei said he was convinced that a masked man who stood outside his front door was ready to pull the trigger on him.

"When I saw his eyes, I was convinced he would shoot me. I really believed he would shoot me. They claimed they were from MACC, but I was never shown any authority cards or warrant.

"In my mind, I thought it must be Anwar who ordered me to be shot dead. Honestly! I panicked.

"Thank goodness, my 13-year-old son walked past behind me, he was frightened. It was then that the man did not dare to shoot. I believe he would have shot me.

"Then they started kicking the door, they barged in. All those who came in, about seven or eight of them, all with guns pointed at me," he said.

Addressing Anwar, Tei said the actions against him were meant to serve as a warning to others who wanted to expose corruption among government leaders.

"Let me tell you, Anwar Ibrahim, I believe he is watching this. I am never afraid of you because the world has changed. This is the era of social media, not 1998 when you could keep covering things up," said Tei.

In a police report on the night of his arrest, Tei's wife, Lee Pei Rie, 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.

Tei's lawyers, Mahajoth Singh and Zaid Malek, 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 said.

MACC chief Azam has denied any misconduct by his officers during the arrest.

Tei today warned MACC against tampering with the CCTV recordings.

"Let me stress here that if I get the CCTV decoder back and it is damaged or its contents deleted, I will stop at nothing to pursue the MACC," he added.