MACC chief says no plan to take Dr Mahathir in yet for questioning as asset investigations still ongoing

Malay Mail

PUTRAJAYA, May 7 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has no intention to summon Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for questioning about his assets despite ongoing investigations.

The MACC had in January ordered the former two-time prime minister’s two businessmen sons, Tan Sri Mokhzani Mahathir and Mirzan Mahathir, to declare their wealth accumulated over the years from when their father was in office.

“We do not have the intention to detain him as yet. Investigations are ongoing,” MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki told reporters after attending the launch of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy here today.

Mokhzani and Mirzan issued a joint statement last month saying that the MACC order was only for them to help it investigate their father’s wealth.

“We understand the whole exercise is to determine if our father Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad abused his position as prime minister to enrich us.

“We are keen to disprove these accusations and want to prove that whatever we have earned over the years are through legitimate means, through proper channels and without any crime being committed,” they said.

Section 36(1)(b) of the MACC Act 2009 empowers the MACC to compel anyone with dubious wealth to declare their assets, whether or not they are in his possession 30 days from the date of the notice.

Both Mokhzani and Mirzan have been given several extensions to comply.

Dr Mahathir had previously held a press conference where he suggested his son had been the subject of political vengeance by incumbent Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s government, who has also launched a probe on former finance minister and friend Tun Daim Zainuddin.