Anwar’s report yesterday alleged corruption by the first Finance Minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin , charging that Daim received money and shares from three prominent corporate figures when he was finance minister from 1984 to 1991.
In his police report, Anwar attached letters written by Renong Bhd. chairman Halim Saad, Malaysia Airline System Bhd. chairman Tajuddin Ramli, and Land and General Bhd. chairman Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah to Daim in 1990, showing "clearly" that Daim received money and corporate shares worth hundreds of millions of ringgit. Anwar said it is corruption if a finance minister personally receives wealth while in office.
According to Anwar, Halim's letter dated April 1990 stated that he was holding about 52 million shares of Faber Merlin Bhd. and 130 million Renong shares in trust for Daim. Wan Hamzah and Tajuddin similarly confirmed in separate letters at the same time that they were holding RM150 million and RM70 million respectively in trust for Daim.
Anwar said in his police report that he was quite certain that these amounts represented only a small part of the fortune Daim had acquired and that Daim was acting on behalf of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir (Mohamad) in certain cases.
In his first police report against corruption in high places on July
9, 1999, Anwar had alleged interference of justice by the Prime
Minister, the Attorney General Mohtar Abdullah and Public Prosecutor
Abdul Gani Patail in shielding Rafidah Aziz, Minister of International
Trade and Industry from being prosecuted in court on five corruption
charges.
Anwar referred to a document of the Prosecution Division, Attorney
General's Office dated 14 March, 1995 signed by Abdul Gani Patail, which
was handed to him when he was Deputy Prime Minister by
Attorney General, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah towards the end of 1995. The
document clearly stated there was prima facie basis to prosecute Dato Paduka
Rafidah Aziz, the Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) on
five counts of corruption under Section 2(2),Ordinance 22, 1970.
Anwar said the Attorney General being satisfied with the investigations
carried out by the Anti-Corruption Agency was ready to prosecute
Dato Paduka Rafidah Aziz. The charges based on the contents of the
document were as follows:
In his report, Anwar said the Attorney General did not proceed with
the charges due to the interference of the Prime Minister, Dato Seri
Dr. Mahathir Muhammad as a result of which the prosecution of Dato Paduka
Rafidah Aziz could not as yet be carried to completion. As such, the failure
to do so in accordance with the provisions of the law tantamounts
to Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah, and Abdul Gani Patail
having interfered in the carrying out of justice and acted against the
provisions of the law.
In his second police report on July 21, 1999, Anwar implicated
the Prime Minister in the Perwaja scandal. As on December 1995, Perwaja
suffered accumulated losses of RM2,985 million and chalked up RM6,939
million in liabilities, making it the biggest financial scandal in Malaysian
history.
In his police report, Anwar said that the Ministry of Finance under him had to appoint Price Waterhouse in May 1996 as independent auditors into Perwaja’s financial scandal because "several earlier attempts to obtain detailed information from the then management, particularly its Managing Director, Tan Sri Eric Chia failed".
Anwar continued in his police report: "He (Eric Chia) in fact repeatedly claimed that his actions had the support and under the directions of Prime Minister Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir. And this is further substantiated with letters written by the Prime Minister himself. With the so-called mandate, the Board was sidelined, tender procedures were blatantly ignored and there were quesitonable, ‘unsatisfactory’ payments made to certain parties."
These are all serious charges which the Mahathir administration cannot dismiss summarily without grave damage to the reputation on public accountability and integrity, not only to the high political officers implicated but also to the government as a whole.
For this reason, DAP calls for the establishment of a Commission on Clean and Ethical Government to conduct public and independent investigations into Anwar’s three police reports against corruption by the Prime Minister, two Senior Cabinet Ministers and the two highest law officers in the land.
(31/7/99)