Last Friday, Anwar Ibrahim lodged his third police report in a month against corruption and abuses of power in high political places, fully supported by documentary proof. In his third report, Anwar alleged corruption against 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 in cash 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 reaction yesterday, Daim said Anwar’s allegations were "a ploy" to divert the people’s attention from the latter’s ongoing trial.
Daim said he had explained the matter to Anwar when he was still the deputy prime minister and the latter did not object. He said he had informed Anwar of the share allocations before he retired from the cabinet.
He said: "It is nothing new…I have nothing to hide as I had explained everything to him before retiring".
Daim’s reaction has at least put to rest questions as to whether the documents produced by Anwar in his police report with regard to the letters written by the three corporate leaders were genuine or not - for in disputing that the three documents constituted corruption, Daim had in fact confirmed the authenticity of the letters by Halim, Tajuddin and Wan Azmi.
In this connection, the remark by Mahathir at the end of his two-day roadshow in Perak that the police will have to investigate whether the documents are genuine or not raises the question whether the Prime Minister was really in the dark about these three letters or he was trying to avoid proper accountability.
In any event, now that Daim had implicity confirmed the existence of the letters from the corporate leaders to him when he was Finance Minister stating that they were holding "on trust" for him hundreds of millions of ringgit worth of shares and cash, Daim should now give a full explanation to the nation about Anwar’s charges of corruption against him involving these hundreds of millions of ringgit both of shares and in cash.
Anwar’s three police reports on corruption and abuses of power in high political places in the past three months against the Prime Minister himself, two senior Cabinet Ministers namely Daim and the Minister for International Trade and Industry and the two top law officers in the land, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah and Abdul Gani Patail cannot be dismissed summarily as was being done by the Prime Minister yesterday.
The Cabinet is meeting today. Is there any Cabinet Minister who would dare to raise the issue of Anwar’s three police reports on corruption and abuses of power in high political places and to propose the setting up of an independent commission of inquiry to establish the integrity of the government and clear the name of the top political leaders and law officers as nobody believed that the police would have the powers to conduct a free, independent and thorough investigation into these reports.
If the police cannot conduct a full and impartial investigation into the brutal attack on Anwar by the former Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor when the former Deputy Prime Minister was first arrested at Bukit Aman in September last year, and which could only be done by a Royal Commission of Inquiry, who would believe that the police could freely and independently investigate into Anwar’s three police reports alleging corruption and abuses of power against the Prime Minister, two senior Cabinet Ministers and the two top law officers in the land?
(4/8/99)