KOTA KINABALU, Jan 4 —  Parti Warisan Sabah vice president Datuk Peter Anthony was unaware he was wanted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), said his lawyer Martin Tommy.

Tommy said the politician would meet with the commission as requested, adding that Anthony, 46, has no intention of absconding and has been resting in his hometown of Keningau with his family.

“We were not aware of the notice till we read it in the papers this morning. We were very surprised that it was the first time we had heard  of it,” said Tommy.

He said that neither he, as the counsel on record for Anthony, nor his client had received any calls from MACC to come in previously.

“The MACC bail he is under is also still valid and doesn’t expire till January 26, there is no reason to issue this notice,” he said at a press conference today.

“My client has always been in Sabah. He is resting with his family in Keningau, and has some medical problems. As you know, he was admitted to hospital during his arrest previously,” he said.

Tommy said he will accompany Anthony to the MACC office here tomorrow at about 2.30pm.

MACC yesterday issued a notice calling for Anthony, and a lawyer, Michael Persius Ubu, to surrender themselves within 48 hours to facilitate investigations into the purchase of an RM155 million plot of oil palm land.

Warisan deputy president Junz Wong said MACC’s action to issue the notice publicly next to another wanted person was riddled with dubious intentions.

“What are they trying to insinuate by putting him next to someone who apparently has been missing for months now? It is bad for his political image and it suggests that he has been running away from MACC,” said Wong, adding that Anthony is only a phone call away.

He also said the RISDA case was not new and Persius Ubu was more of a person of interest in the case.

 “As far as we know, he is the lawyer representing Risda. They’ve been looking for him, but we don’t know anything about him,” said Wong.

Anthony has had previous run-ins with the graft investigators ― the first time in October last year when he was investigated over the alleged embezzlement of federal funds meant for rural Sabah projects.

He was among 13 people, including Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal who were arrested and eventually freed on MACC bail.

He was also previously investigated over an alleged RM42 million false claim made in relation to a landscaping project for Universiti Malaysia Sabah.