COMMENT | Is PM's ex-aide Farhash a new crony capitalist?

COMMENT | There’s a new corporate name in town, Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s former political secretary, now associated with listed technology player HeiTech Padu Bhd.

HeiTech Padu is now a rising star, fast winning large contracts and seems poised to win an RM1 billion Immigration Department IT contract as well.

The game is old though, finessed by Umno Baru of patronage, intermediaries, and contracts given indiscriminately to those connected - never mind their ability - so long as they have the right links with the right people.

The new part is that there is a political operative from within PKR whose only claim to corporate ability, despite limited vague experiences for over a decade in the corporate arena, is connections - that may be new for a PKR politician.

Last year, Farhash claimed to have given up politics. At 41 and without much going by the way of relevant experience, not only has he become executive chairperson of two listed companies, he is the chairperson of another and a substantial shareholder of listed tech provider HeiTech Padu, which recently secured an RM190 million contract and is tipped to secure a further RM1 billion one.

What is significant is that Farhash was Anwar’s political secretary before he ostensibly quit politics in favour of business. But quitting politics seems to have opened wide other doors for him.