KUALA LUMPUR – Former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin has been discharged from the hospital after being warded for more than two weeks.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) Anti-Money Laundering (AML) division director Datuk Mohamad Zamri Zainul Abidin told Scoop that the tycoon left the hospital today and the agency will decide on its next course of action.
“Daim has been discharged. We are weighing all our options.”
Scop has also reached out to Daim’s lawyer Tan Sri Tommy Thomas as well as Rajesh Nagarajan, who represents Daim’s wife, Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid.
Yesterday, MACC commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said former finance minister Daim should have been charged in court last week but was unable to do so when he was admitted to hospital.
Azam added that investigators have contacted Daim’s lawyer but were told he was warded.
His comments were met with a swipe by Daim’s wife, Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid, who said Azam’s insinuations that Daim evaded criminal charges by getting hospitalised were “false and mischievous”.
“Let me state unequivocally that Daim is prepared to face any charge, anywhere, and will vigorously defend himself in accordance with the law,” she said in a statement.
Na’imah also challenged MACC and Azam that Daim was prepared to face this “political charge” in the hospital itself, with the permission of his medical team.
On January 8, Daim was admitted to hospital. However, it was not disclosed why he needed to be there.
Currently, Daim is being investigated by the MACC over the revelations in the Pandora Papers, which linked him and his proxies to offshore businesses worth at least US$31 million (RM146.7 million).
On January 17, Daim’s legal team, led by former attorney-general Thomas, went to the high court here to challenge the MACC’s probe.
MACC’s investigation into Daim was opened nearly a year ago, in February 2023, based on the mention of his name in the 2021 Pandora Papers. No charges have been brought against him yet.
On January 23, Na’imah pleaded not guilty to an offence of failing to declare her assets to MACC.
Among the assets were companies Ilham Tower Sdn Bhd and Ilham Baru Sdn Bhd, one Mercedes-Benz EQC400, one Mercedes-Benz SL 500, and properties including the Ilham Tower, a house in Persiaran Bukit Tunku, four lots of land in Bukit Tunku and one lot each in Penang and Taman Tun Dr Ismail.
The court ordered RM250,000 bail on Na’imah, as well as to have her passport surrendered to the court. – January 25, 2024