Mara chief says not entertaining Johor crown prince’s allegation

(MMO) – 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.