KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 19): Former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin’s wife Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid slammed a report by an online portal for suggesting her husband had unlawfully obtained wealth.
In a statement on Friday, she said that the allegations by the portal were wrong and unethical.
“I refer to a news report published today in an online portal claiming that so-called 'leaked documents' reveal an offshore trust worth hundreds of millions owned by our family,” she said.
Na’imah said it was reported in a “sensational manner”.
“This is reported in a sensational manner, intended to impute some form of wrongdoing or possession of ill-gotten wealth,” she said.
She said it was no secret that her family owns assets abroad and that they were a product of legitimate business assets.
“We have made no secret of the fact that we own assets abroad.
“These were the product of legitimate business and investment activities, going back long before Daim joined politics in 1984,” she said.
Na’imah questioned the credibility of the report and noted that the writers of the report did not suggest any element of criminality.
“Indeed, no real suggestion of criminality is made by the authors of the report, which begs the question why such a report was published at all. Surely, in reporting news, it is neither ethical nor right to taint anyone’s reputation by incorporating innuendoes and imputations, unsupported by evidence,” she said.
"Isn’t this tantamount to character assassination under the guise of reportage?
“Further, in the absence of wrongdoing, is it justified to discuss anyone’s private financial holdings, whether those details are correct or not, in a manner calculated to suggest serious impropriety of some kind?" she said.
Na’imah claimed that the report was intended to "fan the fires of prejudice, rumour, and supposition against us or any person in our situation".