Letters, meeting minutes, audio clip confirm Farhash-linked company awarded coal exploration licence in Sabah

Documented evidence in the form of letters, company records, board meeting minutes and an audio recording will confirm that a company linked to PKR leader turned businessman Farhash Wafa Salvador has been granted the licence to explore minerals in a vast forest reserve area in Sabah bordering Kalimantan.

The documents were exclusively leaked to MalaysiaNow by a source within Sabah Mineral Management Sdn Bhd, the state's embattled mineral licensing agency chaired by Chief Minister Hajiji Noor, which is now at the centre of an explosive corruption scandal involving senior government politicians.

Official records from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) (above) show that Farhash was appointed as a director of Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd on May 7, 2024, together with businessman Aminuddin Mustapha.

Bumi Suria is fully owned by Borneo Bumi Sdn Bhd, a company where both Farhash and Aminudin together own 100% of the shares on 50-50 basis, which effectively confirms Bumi Suria is owned by Farhash and Aminuddin. 

Just a week after their appointment as directors of Bumi Suria, Hajiji chaired an SMM board meeting attended by more than a dozen individuals.

A copy of the minutes sighted by MalaysiaNow shows that among those in attendance were top SMM executives, including then-CEO Jontih Enggihon and then-CSO Natasha Sim Nuo.

Also present were at least four tycoons and top executives representing a mining giant from Indonesia.

The meeting resolved to approve Bumi Suria's application for a prospective licence that granted it the exclusive right to explore coal covering some 70,000 hectares in the Kalabakan and Gunung Rara forest reserves near the Kalimantan border, an area almost three times the size of Kuala Lumpur.

A letter dated May 21 last year informing Bumi Suria of the decision was signed by Jontih, followed by a letter dated June 7 from Farhash in which he thanked SMM for the licence approval.

Farhash in his letter (right) also attached a memorandum of understanding between Bumi Suria and PT Bayan Resources, fulfilling a condition that the exploration be carried out jointly with the Indonesian company.

PT Bayan Resources is a mining giant owned by Indonesia's "coal king" and billionaire tycoon Low Tuck Kwong, which also has its local outfit Bayan Resources led by Indonesia-based Malaysian billionaire tycoon Lim Chai Hock.

Following MalaysiaNow's revelation today, Natasha, now the CEO of SMM, denied it had approved licence to any company linked to Farhash.

MalaysiaNow has contacted Natasha for a response.

Meanwhile, MalaysiaNow is withholding an audio clip that would further corroborate its report.

According to news portal Malaysiakini, Natasha is the subject of a viral photograph showing her posing together with Sabah timber baron Elbert Lim in front of a private jet "said to belong to an Indonesian coal magnate".

Since late last year, Malaysiakini has released a series of video recordings it had obtained from businessman Albert Tei, showing Sabah state assemblymen discussing bribes ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of ringgit.

Fearing for his safety, Tei had then asked for protection so that he could lodge a formal complaint with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Tei's personal request to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to be granted whistleblower protection was turned down by the prime minister, prompting criticism from anti-graft activists.

MACC has since brought graft charges against two Sabah assemblymen - Yusof Yacob and Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy, alongside Tei himself- a move slammed by critics as selective prosecution for not going after the real "sharks" identified in the videos.