View photos
Mara chief says not entertaining Johor crown prince’s allegation
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 ― Tan Sri Annuar Musa said he will not respond to Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim's demand for him to explain why Mara was made to sponsor the Kelantan football team.
The former Kelantan Football Association president also insisted that he did not have any disagreements with the Johor royal and was not seeking to be involved in personal exchanges with Tunku Ismail.
“I don't owe an explanation to him. If I were to answer, he would be embarrassed again like the pendrive issue; I don't want to embarass him again,” Annuar told Malay Mail Online when contacted today.
Annuar was likely referencing an incident last year when Tunku Ismail gave authorities a pendrive that he said contained evidence of corruption in the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission closed the case after it said it found no such elements following its examination of the contents.
“I'm not interested to talk. I don't want to have anything personal with him,” Annuar Musa added.
Tunku Ismail earlier today wrote on Facebook to say an unnamed “Tan Sri” forced Mara and its entities to sponsor the Kelantan Red Warriors football team with a total of RM700,000.
Tunku Ismail did not specifically name the individual, but referred to him as the chairman of Mara, the post currently held by Annuar.
The Kelantan FA was previously sponsored by Pamoga Qu Puteh, the cosmetics firm belonging to Datuk Seri Hasmiza Othman or better known as “Datuk Vida”, but the company opted to end the deal early.
A Facebook screenshot of the RM200,000 sponsorship by Pelaburan MARA.KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 ― An unnamed person with the title of “Tan Sri” forced MARA and its entities to sponsor the Kelantan Red Warriors football team, said the Johor crown prince today.Challenging the “Tan Sri” to explain the decision, Tunku Ismail Tunku Ibrahim also appended photographs of documents showing a RM500,000 sponsorship by University of Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and an additional RM200,000 by Pelaburan MARA.
UniKL is wholly owned by the federal agency.
“When the nation's economy is weak and when there are fiscal cuts here and there, you still proceeded to use the funds meant for Malaysians to fund The Red Warriors as the chairman of Mara,” he said in a Facebook posting today.
Tunku Ismail did not specifically name the individual, but the current MARA chairman is Tan Sri Annuar Musa, who is also a former president of the Kelantan Football Association.
The prince then pointed out that the move came at a time when UniKL cut its scholarships from RM2 billion to RM1.3 billion in 2016.
In the same Facebook post, he also warned that he will summon a minister whom he said was once intoxicated to explain his relationship with a woman in the state.
“Remember, don't wake a sleeping tiger. I don't disturb people, so don't disturb me.”
Tunku Ismail wrote on Tuesday to urge Malaysians not to allow the Puskas Award won by Mohd Faiz Subri convince it that the state of football here is anything other than dire.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/johor-prince-tan-sri-used-mara-funds-for-football-team#sthash.ffnRd7ST.dpuf
