Hajiji under fire after man who exposed mining scandal barred from entering Sabah to attend trial

The lawyer of the businessman behind a series of shocking corruption revelations involving Hajiji Noor has accused the Sabah chief minister of denying his client entry into the state to attend a court hearing.

Mahajoth Singh, the counsel for Albert Tei who is behind videos showing Sabah ruling politicians discussing bribes ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of ringgit in exchange for mining licences, said his client was stopped on arrival at Kota Kinabalu airport yesterday.

Tei, who was himself charged along with two Sabah assemblymen over bribes for mining permits, was scheduled to attend a case mention at the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court this morning.

However, immigration officers informed him that he could not enter Sabah due to a "restriction from the Chief Minister’s Office", said Mahajoth.

He said while it was wrong to arbitrarily deny a Malaysian citizen entry into Sabah, the fact that Tei had accused Hajiji of corruption raised serious questions.

"In that context, any purported restriction on his entry appears self-serving and a blatant abuse of power.

"I ask the chief minister of Sabah: Did your office issue such an instruction to block my client’s entry? If not, why did Sabah Immigration act on the claim that there was such an instruction?" asked Mahajoth.

He said regardless of whether the instruction came from Hajiji or the Immigration Department, the action to deny entry to Tei was unlawful.

"In either case, my client is entitled, under the law,to a clear explanation."

Mahajoth said Tei was eventually allowed entry, but only after he was "forced to prove that he had an ongoing court case" and contact the police officer in charge of his case.

He said Tei also had to email relevant documents to the immigration officer.

"Only then was he permitted to enter; not as of right, but purportedly at the 'discretion' of the immigration officer, and even then for a mere two days," he added.

The video clips released by Tei, which implicated Hajiji and several assemblymen accepting bribes in return for mineral exploration licences, were initially ignored by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) after its embattled chief commissioner Azam Baki claimed they were "edited" and therefore not credible enough to be admitted as evidence.

Tei's appeal to Anwar Ibrahim to receive protection under the Whistleblower Protection Act was also flatly rejected by the prime minister.

In response, Azam's predecessor Latheefa Koya said she had received the full version of the videos, and challenged MACC to begin investigations without delay.

Azam came under fire again after suggesting that only "one or two" individuals" would be charged.

In July, Tei was himself charged alongside Sabah assemblymen Yusof Yacob and Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy with the offence of receiving and giving bribes totaling RM350,000 in connection with mining permits.

Tei has lashed out at MACC for selective prosecution, and questioned why only the "small fries" were charged while other "sharks" identified in the videos are still at large.

Hajiji is currently the chairman of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, a coalition at loggerheads with the state's Umno leaders and has allied with Anwar's fragile federal government as it tries to survive Sabah's highly fractional politics.

He is also the chairman of Sabah Mineral Management (SMM), the state mining agency which is also embroiled in another shocking revelation involving Anwar's former political secretary, Farhash Wafa Salvador.

In July, MalaysiaNow reported that Hajiji strongly backed an application by a company linked to Farhash to carry out coal exploration activities in the state.

Citing documents and audio recording of Hajiji, the report said SMM had approved Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd's application for a 70,000ha forest reserve, which is three times the size of Kuala Lumpur.

Bumi Suria is wholly owned by Borneo Bumi Sdn Bhd, which in turn is controlled by Farhash and another individual named Aminuddin Mustapha, each with a 50% stake.