What is behind Malaysia’s corruption crackdown that’s ensnared Daim Zainuddin, former aide of Mahathir Mohamad?

Mahathir has described the ongoing investigations as selective persecution, even claiming that the MACC had done nothing to look into allegations raised in 1999 that Anwar had squirrelled away billions of ringgit under multiple accounts.

The MACC on Wednesday denied Mahathir’s claim, saying an in-depth probe was launched while he was still prime minister, and there was no case against Anwar.

Naimah is the first to be charged in connection with the corruption crackdown.

But analysts expect more charges will follow as the probe widens to include the wealth of Mahathir’s family.

Daim’s links to Mahathir

Anwar has brushed aside claims of selective persecution of his political rivals. On Monday, he said it was part of his administration’s efforts to push government reform and tackle the country’s endemic corruption.

“If there is no political support for this, at least in the issue of governance and the demand for change, I seek the full support of the people,” he said.

Critics, however, say Anwar gave notice of his intentions in a mid-2022 news conference, warning that if he were to become prime minister, Daim would have “sleepless nights”.

Daim is a long-time close associate of Mahathir, swiftly rising up the political ranks to become finance minister in his debut as an MP in the early 1980s, during Mahathir’s first prime ministerial term.

Together, Mahathir and Daim oversaw a period of aggressive economic expansion, which their opponents have said was marked by crony capitalism that benefited only a select few.

‘I always owned assists’: Malaysia’s Daim says wealth amassed before politics

Before that, Daim was already an accomplished businessman with interests across everything from property development to snack food production, manufacturing and banking.

Veterans of the long-ruling Umno party – to which all three men belonged at the time – described Daim as the man who showed Anwar the ropes when the latter succeeded him as finance minister in 1991.

Daim, however, stood by Mahathir when the latter sacked Anwar as his deputy in 1998 in the aftermath of a political fallout.

Anwar was later charged and jailed for corruption and sodomy under Mahathir’s watch – charges the current prime minister and his supporters say were trumped-up.

Their fallout triggered a decades-long feud that continues to define Malaysian politics.

A long time coming?

Details of Daim’s wealth have long been under wraps, as the 84-year-old kept a low profile over the years despite his close links with the headline-making Mahathir.

But the release of the Pandora Papers in 2021 gave the public a glimpse of the sort of money that Daim and his family were sitting on.

Daim’s wife charged for failure to declare assets as Malaysia widens graft probe

The MACC said last week in a statement that it had launched investigations in August 2022 on all entities implicated in the Pandora Papers.

That is in addition to those identified in a similar data dump under the Panama Papers released in 2016.

Last month, anti-corruption officials seized control of a skyscraper owned by Daim’s family as part of their probe.

MACC chief Azam Baki later confirmed that they were investigating Daim for alleged corruption and money laundering, without going into the details.

Daim launched a legal challenge against the MACC investigation last week, denying any wrongdoing and arguing his wealth was built through legitimate business activities before his entry into politics.

“If I had stayed in business and done nothing to actively grow these assets, the value of my liquid stock holdings alone would be worth over 50 billion ringgit (US$10.5 billion) today,” he said in his affidavit.

Who is next in line?

Daim is likely to be next after his wife to face trial.

MACC chief Azam on Wednesday said the agency had informed Daim that he would be charged in connection with their investigations, according to local news reports.

Azam said the organisation was unable to proceed for now, as Daim had reportedly been hospitalised for an undisclosed condition.

Mirzan, 66, who owns stakes in Philippine energy company Petron and its parent firm San Miguel, has been instructed to declare his assets with the MACC by mid-February.

Paper trail

The Pandora Papers is a multi-jurisdictional effort under the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed what has been described as a “shadow financial system” that benefits the world’s richest and most powerful people.

Published in 2021, it covers millions of leaked documents of wealth parked in offshore havens and has implicated 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories, and a bevy of criminals.

The ICIJ in 2016 also published a similar effort under the Panama Papers, which focused on a trove of information on how Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca helped hundreds of high-profile clients set up hard-to-trace companies, trusts and foundations.