Coal Gate Warisan Rep Says Approval And Licence Separate Issues

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A Warisan assemblyperson has called on the Sabah government to clarify whether a coal exploration licence covering 70,000ha was approved for Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd, a company linked to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s former aide Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak.
Elopura assemblyperson Calvin Chong stressed that there is a distinction between the approval and the issuance of a licence.
“The people of Sabah want to know if SMM (Sabah Mineral Management Sdn Bhd) had issued an approval letter to the company for the 70,000ha area,” Chong (above) said in a statement yesterday.
He was responding to a Malaysiakini report quoting Sabah Lands and Surveys Department director Bernard Liew, who stated there had been no application for a mineral prospecting licence from Bumi Suria.
ADSHowever, Chong said this was a separate matter, noting that the controversy has yet to hinge on whether the department itself had issued a licence.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s former aide Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak.“At this point, the real question is whether SMM gave its approval to Bumi Suria last year. That’s what the people want to know,” he said.
He urged the state government to provide a clear and open explanation regarding the allegations, adding that Liew - who also sits on SMM’s board - must address the issue formally and publicly.
Audio clip
Liew’s explanation followed the revealing of an audio clip by news portal MalaysiaNow, which purportedly proves that Chief Minister Hajiji Noor approved the licence for the Farhash-linked firm.
In the clip, a voice said to be Hajiji’s - who also chairs the state-owned SMM - is heard stating: “Yes, we will get to that later. The important thing is that we approve its application.”
This followed concern raised by another voice, purportedly belonging to state secretary Safar Untong, who said: “But the area is too big, Datuk Seri, 70,000ha.”
According to MalaysiaNow, the recording was supposedly from a meeting involving the SMM board.
The clip has been uploaded to YouTube and TikTok.
Previously, SMM denied that any licence had been approved for the firm, while Farhash dismissed the allegation as fake and lodged a police report against MalaysiaNow. - Mkini

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