HAVING experienced a semblance of being shot as the messenger, surely former UMNO supreme council member Isham Jalil has the right to know what is the outcome of his three reports to the relevant authorities over the HeiTech Padu Bhd share purchase by Datuk Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, the ex-confidante of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
This is given that the now opposition-slant former UMNO information chief had on Oct 8 being subject to a police investigation under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 (Amendment 2018) and Section 500 of the Penal Code for urging Anwar to sue financial portal Bloomberg over a damning article on the subject.
To re-cap, Bloomberg had on Sept 26 ran an article claiming that Anwar who is also the Finance Minister had personally ordered MACC’s head honcho Tan Sri Azam Baki not to probe Farhash’s disclosure of a roughly 16% substantial stake in the information and communication technology (ICT) provider back in March.
Earlier on March 21, Isham had lodged three reports to the police, MACC and Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) respectively so that the authorities can investigate if there is a violation of governance matter or insider trading in the transaction.
Yesterday (Oct 15), Anwar during the PM’s Question Tine revealed that the police had taken the necessary actions, including summoning Bloomberg representatives to have their statements recorded although the bottom line is that he would leave it to the police to investigate and the Attorney-General (AG) to take appropriate action.
“Legal action is being considered as PDRM (Roysl Malaysia Police) has received a report and has taken several actions including summoning Bloomberg representatives and individuals involved on Oct 1, 8, and 11,” Anwar said this in reply to Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari.
“We’ll wait for them to submit their papers (to the AG Chambers). If there’s a clear offence, we’ll leave it to the AG to press charge.
“MACC has also made a strong statement denying the accusations as what happened was merely a general directive I issued – including in Parliament – where I emphasised that I want MACC, the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN), PDRM and other enforcement agencies to act decisively and uncompromisingly in combating corruption.”
Fadhli who is also the PAS information chief had wanted to know whether the government is prepared to take legal action against Bloomberg regarding PMX’s alleged interference in MACC’s investigation to the extent that it has tarnished his image in the fight against power abuse and corruption.
Following Anwar’s latest revelation, Isham has posed three so-called “additional questions” that may have direct or indirect impact on HeiTech’s share price which is currently trading near its all-time high of RM4.32:
#1: Has any action been taken on my three reports to the authorities namely PDRM, MACC and the SC in March related to the Heitech shares purchase by Farhash’s company or have all my reports been classified as “No Further Action” (NFA)?
#2: Has the RM1 bil National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe) project been awarded to the rightful company or will it be awarded in the near future or has a letter of acceptance been issued?
#3: Will the police summon PMX as one of the related individuals in its investigation pertaining to the Bloomberg report? If the police are unable to investigate PMX who is implicated in the Bloomberg‘s report, then who else should it investigate? Royal Commission? Parliament?
At the close of today’s mid-day trading, HeiTech was up 6 sen or 1.49% to RM4.09 with 1.12 million shares traded, this valuing the company at RM455 mil. – Oct 16, 2024
