According to news reports published by CNA, the multi-million-dollar Ilham Tower, a prime commercial building owned by the family of former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, has been seized by Malaysia’s anti-graft agency, with sources saying, in a sharp escalation to an ongoing probe into controversial transactions by corporate entities.
The news agency said financial executives close to Daim who was the Finance Minister during Tun Mahathir’s regime wielded enormous power during the premier’s two stints as premier, said the seizure took place on Thursday (Dec 21), following the former politician’s refusal to submit to petitions from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to declare his and his family’s financial holdings.
The MACC’s move against Daim is part of an anti-money laundering investigation that began in late May into a corporate transaction valued RM2.3 billion (US$500 million) in November 1997 involving publicly listed Renong Bhd and United Engineers Malaysia Bhd (UEM), two entities that were former cornerstones of the business empire tied to the one-time ruling UMNO party.
CNA said MACC officials could not be reached for immediate comment and Daim, who served as UMNO treasurer between 1984 and 2001, declined comment for this article.
It further added the financial executives close to Daim said that the former politician received an order from the MACC in late May to declare his financial holdings and other assets belonging to members of his family. But Daim rebuffed those demands and had insisted during questioning by the MACC officials that he had nothing to do with the Renong-UEM deal.
Daim maintained that the corporate deal, which involved UEM acquiring a 33 percent interest in Renong, was purely a corporate transaction between companies that were governed by their respective managements, board of directors and shareholders, financial executives close to the former politician said.
Daim has always applied a stealthy approach to his business empire. He does not appear in any listing index of the region’s richest businessmen because a large bulk of his businesses and assets are held in through an array of obscure family companies or nominee associates.
He is not listed as a substantial shareholder or a director in any quoted Malaysian company.
The most visible construct of Daim’s financial heft is the 60-storey Ilham Tower, which was completed in 2015 and houses both offices and a hotel.
According to documents lodged at the Companies Commission of Malaysia, the owner of the building is a private entity called Ilham Tower Sdn Bhd, which is in turn majority owned by a private company called Ilham Baru Sdn Bhd.It is a company controlled by members of Daim’s family, including his wife Na’imah Abdul Khalid and his two sons, Mohammed Amin Zainuddin Daim and Muhammed Amir Zainuddin Daim.
