In Halim Saad suit, Pakatan suggests a Mahathir legacy of graft and cronyism
The tycoon is considered a Bumiputra corporate posterboy of the Mahathir era.
(TMI) – Tycoon Tan Sri Halim Saad’s massive legal suit against the government underlines the widespread corruption that typifies the Mahathir-era where the line between business and politics was blurred to help the ruling Umno amass an empire of wealth, said Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders.
Opposition leaders believe the suit, set to be one of the biggest corporate battles in the country, will also test the Najib administration’s seriousness in tackling high-level corruption as they expect the legal battle to expose more gruesome details on Umno’s dirty corporate ties.
“This is yet another legacy of Tun Dr Mahathir (Mohamad),” DAP lawmaker Liew Chin Tong told The Malaysian Insider, referring to the longest-serving former prime minister whose administration had spearheaded a Bumiputra corporate advancement project that helped create a pool of Malay tycoons like Halim.
“When it comes to corruption and cronyism, we know Umno is corrupt and filled with cronies. What we want to know now is, who is getting all that money. That’s what the people want to know,” he added.
Halim has mounted a massive legal challenge against the government to demand full settlement of an over RM2 billion deal that forced him to relinquish his controlling stake in Renong Bhd more than a decade ago.
According to digital business magazine, The Edge Review, Halim, once the sole corporate nominee of the ruling Umno, was offered RM1.3 billion in cash and property as well as control of a private waste management company, roughly valued at RM2 billion, in exchange for his disposal of Renong in the 2001 agreement.
Citing people familiar with Halim’s suit, the magazine reported that the business magnate had since only received RM165 million despite giving up his business empire and is seeking the remainder.
The move comes as a shock since Halim’s tenure in Renong was marred by questionable decisions. It is widely perceived that he had failed to rein in Renong’s growing debts, which allegedly forced the government to take over his stake in the conglomerate through state investment arm, Khazanah Nasional Bhd.
Liew said the Halim saga was among the many failures of Dr Mahathir’s Bumiputra corporate advancement project, citing other controversies like the legal battle between national carrier MAS and its former chief executive officer Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli and the Forex scandal in 1983.
