KUALA LUMPUR – Former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin’s eldest son was threatened with arrest by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) if he insisted on legal representation during questioning, his legal counsel alleged.
In a statement today, Datuk Md Wira Dani Abdul Daim’s lawyer, Rajesh Nagarajan, said his client had presented himself at the anti-graft agency’s headquarters in Putrajaya yesterday after he was summoned by the MACC to assist in the ongoing probe into Daim.
“However, despite having his lawyer present, Wira Dani was denied his right to legal representation. Despite repeated requests, MACC officers blocked Wira Dani’s lawyers from accompanying him for the questioning,” the lawyer alleged in a statement today.
Highlighting that every person has a right to legal representation, Rajesh asserted that MACC officers had then threatened to immediately arrest Wira Dani if he insisted on having his lawyer present during the questioning.
“This is high-handed and a gross abuse of power by the MACC. The threat of arrest had no basis in law and was calculated to unlawfully intimidate Wira Dani into surrendering his right to have his lawyer present.”
Asserting that the “lawless conduct” displayed by the MACC officers in question “cannot be tolerated”, Rajesh urged MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and the government to address the incident.
“We demand an explanation from the MACC and the home minister over this denial of the constitutional right to representation (as well as an) assurance that Wira Dani’s rights and safety will be protected.”
The lawyer also referenced the death of Teoh Beng Hock, who was similarly denied legal representation during questioning by the MACC.
Teoh’s body was found on the fifth-floor landing of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on the morning of July 16, 2009, after being questioned overnight by MACC officers at their office on the 14th floor.
At the time of his death, Teoh was the political aide to the then-Selangor executive councillor, Ean Yong Hian Wah, who was also DAP’s Seri Kembangan assemblyman.
Scoop has reached out to the MACC for its response to Rajesh’s claims.
On January 29, Daim, 86, pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to comply with an MACC notice by not declaring assets, which included several luxury vehicles, companies and properties across Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Pahang, Negri Sembilan, Perak and Kedah.
Scoop previously reported that Daim does not appear to be directly named in the organisational make-up of a majority of the companies he is accused of failing to declare to the MACC.
However, a number of names, including Wira Dani, repeatedly pop up in the business structure of the entities mentioned in the charge sheet against him. – August 23, 2024