Daim’s wife demands task force to probe ‘power abuse’ report

Naimah Khalid’s lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan questions the adequacy of a police inspector handling the investigation.

(FMT) – Naimah Khalid, wife of former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, has called on the authorities to set up a task force to investigate a Bloomberg report alleging political intervention in a case against her and her husband.

Her lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan said this on behalf of his client at the Sentul police station today, where Naimah spent two hours from 2pm providing her statement to the police.

“Are the police serious in investigating this complaint? It is being investigated by an inspector. Can an inspector probe the prime minister? It’s highly unlikely,” he said.

“It’s imperative that a multi-agency task force be set up to probe the report.”

Rajesh said that only a task force would have the power to summon high-profile witnesses, such as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Separately, Naimah said the police asked her 20 questions regarding her police report, most of which were related to the Bloomberg news agency that published the article in question.

“I also asked (the police) when they would take a statement from Anwar and they said they would just wait for further instructions,” she said.

Yesterday, Naimah filed a police report over a Bloomberg article about the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigations into her husband’s affairs.

Citing sources, Bloomberg reported that MACC chief Azam Baki told agency officials that instructions to investigate Daim, as well as former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his sons, had come from Anwar himself.

Naimah claimed the Bloomberg report showed that the charges against Daim and her were a conspiracy to target Anwar’s political opponents by “subverting the institutions of state and enforcement bodies”.

Both the Prime Minister’s Office and MACC have denied the claims made in the Bloomberg report.

Earlier this year, Daim claimed trial to a charge under Section 36(2) of the MACC Act 2009 of failing to comply with the terms of an asset declaration notice.

Naimah was accused under the same provision of failing to declare her ownership of various companies, several plots of land and two vehicles.