Malaysian anti-graft officials will take up opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's offer to assist investigations into Tun Daim Zainuddin's banking business abroad, years after the former finance minister was cleared of any wrongdoing.Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission deputy chief commissioner, Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull, said in a statement today that they had already questioned Daim and were now waiting to seek Anwar's help to facilitate investigations.
"MACC will meet with YB Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who claims to have strong evidence regarding this case. MACC also welcomes any quarters with evidence to cooperate with MACC," he said.
Mohd Shukri said the testimonies from Daim, Anwar and other witnesses will be brought to the deputy public prosecutor and later the Operations Review Panel (PPO), the independent body that monitors MACC's operations.
Yesterday, Anwar said he was willing to cooperate with MACC if it investigated Daim, but on the condition that it carried out its duties professionally.
"If they ask me, I will give my cooperation, no problem. It is my responsibility to help facilitate investigations. But they have to be professional," the PKR de facto chief had said after a dialogue with Selangor youth in Petaling Jaya yesterday.
He said he had "proof" of Daim's alleged abuse of power but it was shelved. However, he did not elaborate on the statement, although he said MACC should not focus its investigations solely on Daim's banking business.
Mohd Shukri today insisted MACC had always carried out its investigations independently, transparently and professionally, in accordance with the MACC Act 2009.
He added that this was not the first it was investigating Daim.
"For your information, investigations against Tun Daim were already carried out by the Anti-Corruption Agency (now MACC) in 1998.
"The deputy public prosecutor who examined the case at that time decided that no further action be taken," he said.
He added that it was MACC's duty to probe each graft case in accordance with the laws, without being influenced by any party.
Last Thursday, Daim said he was ready to cooperate with MACC as they probed his banking business abroad, saying that he had confidence in the anti-graft body's capabilities to undertake the probe.
Daim revealed he also knew who was behind the sudden media spotlight on his business empire.
"I am aware of who is behind this sudden attention on me. If you don't like the message, kill the messenger," he said, adding that he was surprised Umno-controlled Media Prima Bhd would provide coverage for opposition party PKR.
Opposition politicians had previously urged anti-graft authorities to investigate Daim, with PKR's Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, in November last year, highlighting the lack of police action against the former finance minister despite a police report lodged in 1999.
Anwar had lodged that report 15 years ago, accusing Daim of amassing billions of ringgit in African and Eastern Europe banks through proxies.
Pro-Umno bloggers recently reported that Daim had been attacked by cybertroopers aligned to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for criticising Putrajaya's handling of the economy.
Daim and former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad have emerged as strong critics of Najib's administration over the latter's handling of the economy and national politics.
In what is seen as a psychological war, Najib's supporters in the press and online portals have been attacking Daim with critical articles.
But veteran journalist Datuk A. Kadir Jasin warned a few days ago that Media Prima Bhd should stop sniping at Daim as it could backfire on Najib.
Najib was more vulnerable to personal attacks than Daim and other critics, Kadir, the retired editor of the New Straits Times Press group, said in his blog.
Besides opposition lawmakers, Daim and Dr Mahathir, even pro-Umno bloggers who had supported Najib to be prime minister were now becoming critical of him. – January 19, 2015.
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