KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 ― Amid conflicting statements from the authorities over a RM12 million public donation, an uncle to one of the four freed Sarawakians captured by Abu Sayyaf militants has maintained the money had been banked in to the police as ransom.

Datuk Lau Cheng Kiong insisted the family had remitted the entire sum of the funds to the police in Sandakan through a local bank, The Borneo Post reported today.

“I still maintain what I have earlier said, which is that RM12 million was sent to Sandakan through the bank. If the public has any doubts, they can enquire the matter with Hong Leong Bank,” Cheng Kiong, uncle to the youngest hostage Johnny Lau Jung Hien, was quoted saying.

The newspaper previously reported Cheng Kiong telling a news conference that the RM12 million was raised by the families, relatives and friends and banked in to Hong Leong Bank in Sibu for the police Special Branch in Sandakan to be withdrawn on May 24 between 4pm and 6pm.

He reportedly said that two Special Branch officers who carried an approval letter from Bank Negara Malaysia had withdrawn the money and carried the fund in 12 metal cases to the police station.

Of the RM12 million, Cheng Kiong said RM9 million was received from public donations, RM2 million chipped in by the shipping company the four men worked for and RM1 million raised from the mortgages on two houses owned by the families.

Brothers Wong Teck Kang, 31, and Teck Chii, 29, their cousin Johnny Lau Jung Hien, and an unrelated friend Wong Hung Sing, 34, were kidnapped from a commercial barge, MV Massive 6, in the waters off Pulau Ligitan on April 1 while returning to Tawau, Sabah, after sending a cargo of wood to Manila.

The Abu Sayyaf gunmen freed the four hostages on June 8.

But on Monday, The Manila Times quoted two “highly placed sources” in the Philippines government saying the Abu Sayyaf were angry that they had only received P100 million (RM8.8 million) instead of about P130 million (RM12 million) demanded to free the four Sarawakians.

The report added that the terrorists suspected officials from the Philippines and Malaysian may have pocketed the missing P30 million (RM3 million), which amounts to about a quarter of the total sum raised.

The whereabouts of the RM12 million raised by the families remains a mystery. Malaysian government officials have repeatedly denied that any ransom was paid to secure the freedom of the Sarawakian hostages.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi acknowledged that the Special Branch police had received money from the families and said it was given it to certain Philippine welfare agencies, but declined to name the organisations.

However, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar claimed that the money was never received by the police but was instead handed directly to an unknown “third party” that helped to negotiate the release of the hostages.