Anifah pleads ignorance of timber-graft allegation

Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman has claimed that he has no knowledge of the allegation that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had found him to have corruptly received lucrative timber licences from his elder brother and Sabah chief minister, Musa Aman.

Instead, the Kimanis MP said those who have cooked up the allegation must be "desperate".

"I don't know anything about it. Why don't you ask the person who put it on?" he replied in a text-message when contacted today.

Asked if he has been questioned by the MACC, Anifah denied it again.

"I told you this is the first time I (am hearing) about it. Those concerned must be desperate to implicate me. I don't play this kind of politics and refuse to be drawn into one."

Last Thursday, whistleblower website Sarawak Report had claimed to have leaked MACC documents said to show that investigators had concluded that Musa had corruptly issued timber licences worth tens of millions of ringgit to his brother.

According to the website, the documents form part of a major investigation by the MACC into timber corruption after an agent and nominee for Musa, Michael Chia, had been caught attempting to smuggle RM16 million out of Hong Kong in 2008.

Musa has denied any involvement with the case.

Sarawak Report also claimed that Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, who is closely connected to the Aman family, has forced the MACC to shelve its entire investigation in Sabah.

Furnishing documents purportedly from MACC, the website named Anifah and a nephew, Hairul Aman, as beneficiaries of two major timber concessions through two companies allegedly linked to them.

The two companies are Aktif Syabas Sdn Bhd and Para Era Sdn Bhd.

Malaysiakini has contacted the MACC to verify the allegation but it had yet to respond at the time of writing.