This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 15, 2024 - January 21, 2024

Businessmen who have made their millions are often attracted to the world of politics, and they have every right to jump into it. If they succeed in politics, rarely do they go back to the corporate world.

Nevertheless, some politicians do return to the business world as politics is not everyone’s cup of tea.

But if they do return to making money, they tend to do well for various reasons. Among them is the fact that they are more experienced and may have built a bigger network of acquaintances while in public office, which comes in handy when exploring opportunities in the risky business world.

Former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin was a businessman who held public office for seven years before returning to business. He returned to public office in 1998 and left again in May 2001.

His affinity for banking and property development is well-known. But his name does not appear in the shareholders’ list of any of the major financial institutions or property developments.

After leaving public office in 2001, he has been associated with the ownership of the ICB Financial Group Holdings, which was listed on the London Alternative Investment Market in 2007. And now, his ownership of the iconic Menara Ilham is well-documented.

Daim had close to a 75% stake in ICB Financial Group, which was delisted in November 2013. At its height, the group was operating in 14 countries. But ICB Financial Group had disposed of its banks in some of these countries even before the delisting.

A millionaire property developer before he got into politics in 1982, Daim first attracted national attention when he was appointed finance minister in 1984 by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Daim was closely associated with leading businessmen by virtue of his position as finance minister and Umno treasurer.

The likes of Tan Sri Halim Saad, Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli, Tan Sri Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah and many others, who led the charge of Malays striving to hold a larger portion of the nation’s corporate equity, were closely aligned to Daim. In their heyday in the 1990s, they ruled Corporate Malaysia until the Asian currency crisis in 1997/98, which reduced their wealth significantly.

Daim resigned as finance minister in 1991 but remained as Umno treasurer until 2001. It underscored his close links with Mahathir, who was Umno president until 2003.

In 1998, there was a bitter fallout between Mahathir and his then deputy, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, now the prime minister. Anwar was sacked and jailed, and had pointed to Daim as being one of the conspirators behind his downfall.

Daim’s return to the government in 1998 took place with great fanfare but his exit in May 2001 was a low-key affair. Nobody really knew the reason for his abrupt resignation from the government after his second stint. Later in 2001, Daim also relinquished his position as Umno treasurer.

The close link between Daim and Mahathir was evident during the latter’s second term as prime minister in 2018. Daim was made chairman of the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) to advise the prime minister on social and economic matters.

During its 100 days in existence, the council interviewed many heads of government entities and prepared a report that was supposed to be made public. However, that was never done.

It was during his days as head of CEP that the 58-storey Menara Ilham, located at the heart of the city near the Petronas Twin Towers, came to public attention. The CEP operated from Menara Ilham. Until then, not many were aware of the attractive building that is estimated to be worth RM2 billion, or its ownership.

Daim and his family have come under investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), and he has denied any corrupt act or wrongdoing. He contends that he has not been told the nature of the complaint against him and hence is not able to respond to the MACC’s requests to declare his assets and sources of income.

Consequently, Daim initiated a suit against the MACC claiming that he, his family members and some employees had been harassed by the MACC since June last year. He claimed they were not told the nature of the complaint against them and that the MACC wants them to declare their list of assets, including those overseas, from 1997.

The bank accounts of Daim and his family members have been frozen since June last year. The MACC has also taken away documents from Menara Ilham and his residence.

Daim has filed a judicial review seeking an order that the actions of the MACC are unconstitutional. He is seeking a declaration that it had no reasonable cause to investigate him and his family members for offences under the MACC Act and alleged money laundering.

The MACC’s actions came following repeated reminders to Daim and his family members to declare their assets and sources of funds since 1997. The MACC had sent five notices before it seized Menara Ilham on Dec 18.

Based on Daim’s affidavit, the MACC investigations are also into the documents related to the construction of Menara Ilham, which started in 2009 and was completed in 2015.

When Daim was appointed finance minister in 1984, he was seen as the second most powerful man in the government and Umno after Mahathir, until that first stint ended in 1991.

Anwar took over his position as finance minister but did not become Umno treasurer.

Under Daim’s watch, Umno’s foray into the corporate world was spearheaded by Hatibudi Nominees. It took over the role of Fleet Group, which was the Umno-linked vehicle that led the party’s entry into the corporate world when Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was Umno treasurer.

The faces of Hatibudi were Halim Saad and Datuk Annuar Othman, who later resigned from the company. The most prominent listed companies under the control of Hatibudi Nominees were Renong Bhd and UEM Group. A controversial transaction between UEM and Renong in the months before November 1997 continues to haunt Halim.

The government, through Khazanah Nasional Bhd, took over both the companies in a move to restructure corporate Malaysia after the Asian financial crisis.

Anwar, during his tenure as finance minister from 1991 to 1998, was associated with another Umno-linked vehicle, Realmild Sdn Bhd. Realmild took over some assets from the Fleet Group, such as media group The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd, which controlled Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Bhd and had a stake in Bank of Commerce (now CIMB Group). Its flagship company was Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB), which owned the KL Sentral project.

The Employees Provident Fund took over most of the prized assets of Realmild after it defaulted on a loan.

In the 1990s, there was keen competition between Renong/UEM and MRCB for government projects. Both companies were always seen as the favoured parties when there were tenders and concessions for government jobs.

When Anwar was out of government, he did not leave politics. He did not hide the fact that he wanted to return and become prime minister, a wish that has now been fulfilled.

When Daim left public office in 2001, he also left politics and went back to business. Some of his tangible assets are the ICB Financial Group and Menara Ilham.

But the extent of his wealth is largely obscure. There are a few listed companies including Alliance Bank that were previously linked to him. But his name does not appear on the shareholders’ lists. Daim’s suit against the MACC should finally shed light on the measure of his wealth.

And the question that many seek an answer to is whether he benefited when he was in public office.

M Shanmugam is a contributing editor at The Edge

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