KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun has declined to comment further on the state mining prospecting licence scandal, saying the matter is already before the courts and authorities "have what they need."

"The case is really in court.

"I mean, I don't think there's anything necessary to comment on," he told reporters after the SMJ Energy Networking dinner here last night.

In November last year, Masidi was among several assemblymen implicated in short video clips linking them to a corruption scandal, which the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) dubbed "Op Adun".

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Following the publication of his video on Malaysiakini in December, Masidi immediately volunteered to have his statement recorded at the Sabah MACC office here.

When asked whether the commission had recently recalled him, he said: "I wouldn't answer that question too, but I suppose MACC probably has all that they wanted."

Last week, Malaysiakini again published photos of several other Gabungan Rakyat Sabah assemblymen, including state deputy chief minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, linking them to a similar scandal.

The article was published less than 48 hours before businessman Datuk Albert Tei and two Sabah assemblymen, namely, Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob and Datuk Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy, were charged at the Kota Kinabalu Court here.

Tei pleaded not guilty to offering bribes, while both assemblymen also denied receiving graft from the businessman.

Their case management is fixed for Aug 5.