KUALA LUMPUR (April 27): Tan Sri Mokhzani Mahathir and his brother Mirzan Mahathir, who have been asked to declare their assets by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), have both denied being investigated by the agency.
They said the notice handed out to each of them was issued as a "son of a person suspected to have committed an offence under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009", which is related to the abuse of power by a member of a public or government body to benefit himself, his relatives or associates.
"We would like to put it on record that, contrary to media reports, we are not the subject of any MACC investigation. We understand the whole exercise is to determine if our father Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad abused his position as the prime minister [previously] to enrich us.
"We are keen to disprove these accusations, and want to prove that whatever we have earned over the years are through legitimate means, through proper channels, and without any crime being committed," they said in a joint statement on Saturday.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki on Thursday confirmed that Mahathir was under MACC investigation, and that orders issued to his sons to declare their assets were related to it.
“It was following this probe against him that his two sons were implicated, where we have issued notices under Section 36 of the MACC Act to the sons asking them to declare their wealth. However, I do not wish to reveal more details of their [alleged] offences or the specific accusations against Mahathir.
“Let the investigation take its course first until a time where we see it fit to give more information,” Azam was reported as saying during a media conference in Gua Musang, Kelantan.
Meanwhile, Mokhzani and Mirzan said they appreciate that they had been given more time by the MACC to comply with the asset declaration notice that was served on them in January. The brothers had been given two extensions after the original February deadline.
But they said it would "greatly assist us if the MACC could specify the period that holds the highest significance for their investigation", as the duo were told to declare their assets accumulated over a period of 43 years.
"There are insinuations that the reason why we need more time is due to the extent of our wealth. This is not true at all. Most of the documents are no longer available, especially from the financial institutions and even from the public sector. The Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia, for example, only requires taxpayers to keep sufficient records for a period of seven years, and so does the Registrar of Companies.
"Having said that, we have been working hard and putting in as much effort as possible to collect these documents, but some are near impossible to retrieve as they are just no longer in existence," they added.