Daim’s wife, two sons to give statement to MACC on Wednesday morning

Monday 20 May 2024

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): The wife and two sons of under-fire former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin have been called by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for questioning.

A source close to the family told The Edge that the trio will be at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya Wednesday morning to have their statements recorded.

They were informed about the matter on Monday evening (Jan 8), the source said.

This comes after the anti-graft agency’s seizure of the Ilham Tower, which belongs to Daim and his family, just last month.

Daim, in a statement soon after the seizure, claimed that the actions taken by the MACC in its investigation is “nothing short of a political witch hunt”.

He also said that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has orchestrated this attack against him as Anwar regards him as a “political threat and a foe that must be discredited”.

It is reported that Daim is being investigated in relation to corporate transactions involving Renong Bhd and United Engineers Malaysia Bhd in the 1990s,

Prior to this, a senior MACC source had confirmed with The Edge in late May that the anti-graft agency was looking into the deal.

The Ilham Tower was where the Council of Eminent Persons, an advisory body formed by then-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after Pakatan Harapan came into power in 2018, held its meetings. Daim was its chairman.

The 60-storey building is located at the golden triangle area in the Kuala Lumpur city centre, with the address at No 8, Jalan Binjai.

The seizure order, dated Dec 18 and signed by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, was made under Section 38(1) of the MACC Act 2009.

Section 38(1) pertains to the seizure of immovable property that is found to be a subject matter of an offence under the MACC Act, or is the evidence of the commission of such an offence.

A notice of the seizure order has been placed and advertised in several media. A source from the MACC confirmed the seizure order.

The notice also stipulated that those who disobeyed the seizure order can be fined RM50,000, or up to five times the value of the asset, as stipulated under Section 38(5) of the MACC Act.

With a diagonal exo-skeleton, the Ilham Tower comprises 33 floors of office suites and 22 floors of serviced apartments, according to its website. The building had in 2017 won the Gold Award of Special Merit by the Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia.

Edited ByAdam Aziz

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