KUALA LUMPUR – The corruption investigation into tycoon and former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin has been widened to include his role in the 1998 over-the-counter stock-trading system in Singapore known as CLOB (Central Limit Order Book) as well as “forced divestments” by those on the opposing political divide.
Also, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probe will expand to Daim’s business proxies and high-profile corporate personalities whose deals he personally brokered, reported Channel News Asia (CNA).
Sources said the graft busters were looking into Daim’s role in trading on the contentious CLOB platform, which was supposedly used as a way to force divestments by businessmen to benefit those linked to then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Daim.
The MACC had requested for Daim to provide his statement from Assunta Hospital in Petaling Jaya since last Saturday, but sources shared that his medical team said the tycoon was in no position to be questioned.
CLOB was set up in Singapore in 1990 after Kuala Lumpur banned the trading of stocks in Malaysian companies on the Singapore bourse. Soon, Dr Mahathir was clashing with his deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim amid the country’s handling of the Asian financial crisis.
Dr Mahathir later banned the trading of Malaysian stocks outside the country, freezing billions of dollars worth of stock in 112 Malaysian companies that were trading on CLOB. Days later on September 2, 1998, Anwar was sacked and later hauled up to court on multiple criminal charges in the same month.
Dr Mahathir reappointed Daim as finance minister, who approved a concessionaire by businessman Datuk Seri Akbar Khan to manage the return of the frozen equities on CLOB, which was roughly valued at US$4 billion.
The CLOB controversy also strained Malaysia’s bilateral relations with Singapore amid heavy public criticism.
Daim was also accused of a “corporate shakedown” involving one of then Malaysia’s richest tycoons, Lim Thian Kiat, and the selling of his controlling stakes in one of the country’s largest conglomerates, Multi-Purpose Holdings Bhd (MPHB), in early 1999.
MPHB was said to own businesses in the banking, property, gaming and shipping industries.
According to reports, Lim was “forced” to sell to a group of businessmen led by Akbar and Chan Chin Cheung. At that time, Chan was a Renong Bhd director.
After the sale, MPHB’s stakes were said to be divested to companies linked to Daim, with Akbar taking over property developer Bandar Raya Developments Bhd.
CNA reported that MACC would be investigating Daim’s purported role into Lim selling his stake in MPHB and how Akbar then benefitted from the entire deal.
Lim and Akbar are expected to provide their statements to the MACC.
Yesterday, Daim’s legal team led by former attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas went to the high court here to challenge the MACC’s probe.
The 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.
Thomas said the anti-graft agency’s probe was “prejudicial”, given that Daim had left public office 22 years ago, besides his old age.
He also submitted that the MACC was launching a delayed investigation to “fish” for evidence as it had not yet established any offence since starting its investigation last year. – January 17, 2024