KUALA LUMPUR: Former Umno supreme council member Isham Jalil has taken a swipe at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's statement regarding the alleged potential breaches in the law on the purchase of shares in HeiTech Padu Bhd.

Isham was responding to Anwar's remark, in which he said he would refer to the Treasury Department over claims he had made about the latter's former political secretary Datuk Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak purchasing approximately RM40 million in shares in HeiTech Padu Bhd.

"Earlier, Anwar said he would respond to the issue of Heitech Padu and the purchase of shares by his friend Farhash Salvador after obtaining information from the Treasury Department.

"Therefore, Anwar will inquire with the Finance Minister who is himself regarding the case involving his friend," he said.

Isham added that he would wait for Anwar's statement, where he believes that Anwar will claim that there is no issue regarding the matter.

"I can guess what he will say… It is highly likely that he will claim that there is no issue of governance or cronyism because his friend is a successful; businessman, and so on, and not a politician anymore, and this is just a regular business matter, and he has no involvement in it.

"And then I see the likelihood that Heitech Padu and his friend will secure that RM1 billion government contract and make tens or hundreds of millions in profits from contracts funded by taxpayers' money from the taxes paid by the people.

"When this happens, it may not be a problem for him."

Isham also claimed that Anwar and his governance had gone down the drain as watchdogs like Bersih, Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Centre) and Corruption Watch had gone silent.

"They only make noise when it comes to cases involving opposition leaders or their political enemies, but when the case involves Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders, they stay quiet.

"Before, they made noise about Najib and 1MDB, until Najib ended up in court and jail as a result.

"Now, when it's their turn, they clamp down on their mouths and are afraid to speak up and PH can do whatever they want because this is 'our government and we can do as we please', they say. Anwar's reformasi has gone down the drain."

Last Thursday, Isham filed a police report over Farhash's emergence as a substantial shareholder of a government contractor.

He had also requested the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the police to investigate the incident because he was concerned that there were elements of a violation of the law in the transaction, which he alleged might have involved insider trading given Farhash's ties to Anwar.

Previously, Farhash demanded that Isham apologise and retract claims made on social media concerning his ownership of HeiTech Padu shares.

He said Isham's claims were defamatory and also sought damages from him.

Farhash had also said he was no longer actively involved in politics or in the current administration, pointing out that he bought the HeiTech Padu stake via Rosetta Partners Sdn Bhd.

He said Rosetta Partners was a private vehicle that he co-owned with the Sultan of Kelantan, Sultan Muhammad V.

Isham later rejected Farhash's demands, saying he was confident that the truth was on his side.

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2024/03/1031431/isham-jalil-criticizes-anwars-response-heitech-padu-shares-purchase