KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah Natural Resources Office (SNRO) secretary Datuk Mohd Salleh Abbas has clarified that a letter issued to Lincah Hebat Utama Sdn Bhd (LHU) during his tenure was merely a standard acknowledgment and not an approval for any project.
Responding to the recent circulation of the letter, Mohd Salleh addressed claims surrounding it.
The letter, dated Jan 31, 2019, has gone viral, causing confusion and speculation about it being an approval for a large-scale project.
"I would like to clarify that the letter was a standard acknowledgment issued by the Sabah Land Revenue Office in response to LHU’s application. It was not an approval letter.
"As a professional government agency, it is standard practice to issue an acknowledgment once an application is received. This is not confirmation of approval," he said in a statement on Monday (April 7).
Mohd Salleh explained that the viral letter explicitly stated the application was under review, and the applicant would be notified of any updates.
He also stressed that no prospecting licences were approved during his tenure under the Warisan Plus Government, only acknowledgment letters as part of standard administrative procedures.
"The circulating letter is part of the normal process of responding to correspondence. It does not constitute approval," he reiterated.
His clarification followed calls by Sabah Umno for a full investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and police into the state government’s alleged approval of a mineral prospecting licence to LHU, a little-known firm allegedly linked to political figures.
Sabah Umno strategic communications director Datu Rosman Datuk Ahir Zaman had urged for the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to review the entire system for issuing prospecting and mining licences in the state.
