The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has cleared businessman Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak of alleged wrongdoing in connection with mineral exploration in Sabah.
MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said that Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd, of which Farhash is a director, never conducted mineral exploration activities despite applying for a licence to do so.
He also said that Bumi Suria had not applied for land from the Sabah government to conduct mineral exploration.
“What existed was only a mineral exploration application to state government agency Sabah Mineral Management Sdn Bhd (SMM),” he said.
“SMM initially granted conditional approval in March 2023, subject to the company submitting the required documentation.”
The company however failed to submit the necessary documents, and the application was cancelled as a whole in March this year.
“So no exploration activities ever took place because the company did not fulfil the documentation requirements,” Azam said at a press conference here.
Azam said prosecutors found that no criminal offence was committed, adding that statements were taken from SMM and the state government, among others.
“In the end, the deputy public prosecutor decided that there was no criminal case against anyone under the MACC Act or Penal Code, and there was no issue of weak governance.
“Therefore, the case is closed.”
In July, a MalaysiaNow report claimed that SMM had awarded Bumi Suria an exploration licence for coal mining, involving 70,000ha in the Kalabakan and Gunung Rara forest reserves near the Kalimantan border.
However, SMM said it was not a licence-awarding body, nor did it have the jurisdiction to award or issue licences. It also said that Bumi Suria had never been issued or awarded any prospecting licence by the state government.
Farhash, Bumi Suria and businessman Aminudin Mustapha have since sued MalaysiaNow and its editor Abdar Rahman Koya for RM10 million over three reports linking the businessman to the purported award of the exploration licence.
Farhash claimed that various statements published by the portal alleging that he owned Bumi Suria and that the company had been awarded a licence were “false and defamatory”.
He said he was merely a director and shareholder of the company, and that MalaysiaNow had not verified the facts with the relevant authorities, thereby violating basic journalistic standards.
