Malaysia’s Daim Zainuddin, twice finance minister, dies at 86
(CNA) : Malaysia’s Daim Zainuddin, who had two stints as finance minister and pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to disclose assets this year, died on Wednesday (Nov 13), his family said.
The 86-year-old helped steer the Southeast Asian nation through recessions and the Asian financial crisis during his terms as finance minister from 1984 to 1991, and again, from 1999 to 2001, under former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
“I have lost a friend who fought with me for race, country and religion,” Dr Mahathir said in a statement, adding that he was “immeasurably saddened” by the death.
Daim wielded enormous power during Dr Mahathir’s two stints as the country’s leader.
In 2018, after Dr Mahathir became prime minister for the second time, he appointed Daim chairman of the five-member Council of Eminent Persons, which advised him on socio-economic and financial matters.
Daim died at 8.21am at a hospital on the outskirts of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, where his funeral is to be held at the national mosque on Wednesday, the family said in a statement, without giving the cause of death.
“In the past few weeks, he was in the intensive care unit after he had a stroke,” said his lawyer, Gurdial Singh Nijar, who earlier confirmed the death to Reuters, but added that he did not know the cause.
In December last year, CNA broke the newsthat Malaysia’s anti-graft agency had seized the multi-million-dollar Ilham Tower, a prime 60-storey commercial building in Kuala Lumpur owned by Daim’s family.
The move by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was part of a probe into controversial transactions by corporate entities previously controlled by the one-time ruling United Malays National Organisation.
Earlier this year, Daim was charged with failing to disclose assets under an anti-corruption law, in a graft crackdown by the government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
He pleaded not guilty in the case, one of the highest-profile such actions against prominent figures.
Anwar has denied critics’ accusations that he was using the anti-graft agency to target political rivals.
Daim, an ally of veteran leader and Anwar’s long-time foe Mahathir, was among those being investigated by the MACC on suspicion of having wealth in excess of that declared.
His wife, Na’imah Abdul Khalid, was also charged on the same disclosure grounds.
Na’imah, who pleaded not guilty, said in a statement outside the Kuala Lumpur sessions court earlier this year that “no crime was committed by me”.
“The real crime is the plot to tarnish my husband’s reputation. The real crime is the wielding of state power for personal ends and not for the benefit of the people,” she said.
Anwar’s government on Wednesday offered its condolences on Daim’s death, its spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil said.
A lawyer turned businessman, Daim had substantial dealings and interests in sectors from banking to property.
The graft body began investigating Daim in February 2023 on the basis of information in the Pandora Papers, a massive leak of financial records in 2021 revealing offshore assets held by politicians and public figures worldwide.
In it, Daim, his associates and family were reported to have held assets worth at least £25 million (US$32 million).
In the wake of his death, the MACC said the Deputy Public Prosecutor will decide on the next course of action on his case.
MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said the commission would discuss this with the DPP.
“Only the DPP can decide how to proceed, we are only in charge of investigating,” he told the media outlet New Straits Times.
“I think it will take at least one or two weeks, we will provide an update once a decision has been made.”
Source : Channelnewsasia
