[Tee tiong huat]

28th December 2023 – (Kuala Lumpur) Malaysia’s crackdown on corruption in high places has turned its sights on billionaire businessman Mirzan Mahathir.

Marking an expansion of investigations beyond initial targets. Authorities last week seized a landmark skyscraper owned by former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, Malaysia’s wealthiest tycoon with close ruling party ties. Now graft busters have opened a probe into Mirzan, eldest son of influential ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad. Daim, is daim is very quiet.

As Anti-Corruption Commission is examining a 1990s corporate deal between United Engineers Malaysia and Renong Berhad, a construction conglomerate linked to Mr. Daim and former ruling party UMNO. Mr. Mirzan, Mr. Daim’s associate Halim Saad, and lawyer Abdul Rashid Manaf are says.

Authorities believe over US$500 million may have been embezzled in the opaque transaction. Mr. Mirzan amassed a fortune in the 1980s and 1990s through ties to UMNO patronage networks led by his father, Dr. Mahathir.

The nonagenarian ex-premier exerts influence through crony capitalists and political scions like Mirzan. Seizures of Daim’s assets and probes of Mr. Mirzan thus deliver an unsubtle message