Mahathir Says Son’s Malaysian Graft Probe Politically Driven

(Bloomberg) -- Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the nation’s anti-corruption agency’s probe into his son’s business activities is politically motivated and that he’s unaware of any other reason that would warrant such move.

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The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has ordered his eldest son, Mirzan Mahathir, to declare all of his income since 1981, when the 98-year-old first became premier, Mahathir said at a press briefing on Monday.

“I’m told that my son is being investigated because he is my son,” Mahathir said, adding that the government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is using the law against the political opposition. A spokesperson for the anti-corruption body MACC didn’t respond to queries from Bloomberg News.

MACC is also investigating Daim Zainuddin, a former finance minister and adviser to Mahathir. Zainuddin’s wife, Nai’mah Abdul Khalid, was charged on Tuesday for not declaring her assets, which include the 60-story Ilham Tower building in Kuala Lumpur that the agency seized in December.

Anwar, a former ally of Mahathir, rose to power in November 2022 on an anti-corruption drive, after having been long denied the top job. His reform agenda has faced criticisms after the government last year withdrew 47 criminal charges against a key supporter, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Anwar has denied interfering in the case, as well as in MACC’s investigations.

“The people who are against the government will have the law thrown at their faces, while those who are supporting the government will even have 47 charges dropped,” Mahathir said.

Malaysia’s anti-corruption body last week ordered Mahathir’s son to declare all assets in his possession within 30 days. The order is part of the agency’s investigation into information from the Panama Papers — a large stash of records for shell companies that was uncovered by a journalism consortium in 2016 — as well as Mirzan’s business activities involving the sale and purchase of government-linked companies.

Mirzan once ran the shipping company Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd. The firm was bailed out by national oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Bhd. during the first term of his father, the New Straits Times reported in June last year, citing Anwar. Mahathir has denied such allegations, and filed a defamation suit against Anwar.

On Tuesday, Daim’s wife faced trial, with the court setting bail at 250,000 ringgit ($52,806), demanding a surety and for her to surrender her passport.

Anwar was seen as Mahathir’s successor in the 1990s before he was fired in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. Anwar then spent time in jail on charges of abuse of power and sodomy, which he denied and said was politically motivated.

Mahathir and Anwar reunited in the 2018 election to oust former premier Najib Razak in the wake of the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal. Mahathir became prime minister for the second time, making an agreement to hand over the premiership to Anwar at a later date. But squabbling within the coalition, including over when Mahathir would step aside as prime minister, helped bring the administration down in 2020.

“The law is being abused for political ends,” Mahathir said at the briefing.

(Adds details on charges leveled against the former finance minister’s wife in the fourth and ninth paragraphs.)

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