MACC and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) will only be respected once they dare to enforce the rule of law without fear or favour, Muda said today.
This came after the AGC cleared businessperson Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak of alleged wrongdoing in connection with the Sabah mining scandal.
The party’s political bureau said that as long as the institutions are perceived to be protecting political cronies, public confidence in the agencies will continue to deteriorate.
“This is why the public may see this as yet another episode of ‘washing hands’ to save those within the Madani government’s political network,” it claimed in a statement today.
Earlier today, MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said the case involving Farhash, a former political secretary to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, has been closed due to, among others, a lack of governance issues.
Azam said the anti-graft agency had submitted its investigation papers on the matter to the AGC, which then determined that no criminal charges could be brought against any party.
On July 21, online portal MalaysiaNow linked Farhash to a mineral exploration licence scandal in Sabah, with the news portal uploading an audio recording allegedly showing that Chief Minister Hajiji Noor had voiced support for a company linked to Farhash.
Sabah Mineral Management Sdn Bhd’s (SMM) board, which Hajiji chairs, subsequently denied that any company linked to Farhash was granted a prospecting licence for minerals across a massive forest reserve in the state.
Farhash also dismissed the report as fake, slapping MalaysiaNow with a legal letter and lodging a police report against the portal.
Since then, SMM and its chief executive officer, Natasha Sim, have turned to the courts in seeking gag orders against MalaysiaNow and its editor, Abdar Rahman Koya, over the disputed articles.
Silencing the media
Muda also took issue with Azam’s remark today, where he confirmed that the Farhash-linked company had been granted “conditional approval” by SMM in March 2023, subject to the company submitting the required documentation.
The party asked how the company could reach that stage without the necessary documents being submitted.
“How could a company that failed to submit documents reach that stage? Why was the door so easily opened to a company closely connected to the former right-hand man of the prime minister?” it questioned.
Highlighting that the Shah Alam High Court recently rejected Farhash and two others’ attempt to obtain an injunction against MalaysiaNow, Muda claimed that if the businessperson’s reputation is “truly clean”, he would not undertake “relentless efforts” to silence the media. - Mkini
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