KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is investigating the business activities of the son of former leader Mahathir Mohamad, in a sign of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s widening anti-graft campaign against his rivals.
Mirzan Mahathir was summoned to the MACC headquarters Wednesday and told to declare all assets in his possession within 30 days, the anti-corruption body said in a statement on Thursday.
The order is part of an investigation into information from the Panama Papers — a global investigation of the murky world of offshore finance — as well as his business activities involving the sale and purchase of government-linked companies, the agency added.
Mirzan, the eldest son of former premier Mahathir, once ran the shipping company Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd. The firm, according to Anwar, was bailed out by the national oil and gas company Petronas during the first term of his father, the New Straits Times reported in June last year.
Mahathir, now 98, has denied such allegations, and filed a defamation suit against Anwar, his onetime protege when Mahathir led the country in the 1990s.
The administration of Anwar, who rose to power in November 2022 on an anti-corruption drive, has since conducted investigations that involved former prime ministers Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Muhyiddin Yassin, the chief minister of an opposition-held state, as well as a former adviser to Mahathir.
Anwar’s commitment to fight graft came under scrutiny last year after the government withdrew 47 criminal charges against a key ally, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Anwar has denied interfering in the case, as well as in the MACC investigations.
The MACC said on Thursday that it began investigating entities linked and named in the Pandora Papers and Panama Papers in August 2022.
“To date, a total of 10 witnesses have been called for the purpose of recording statements and the MACC is studying the financial documents and asset ownership of the entities listed in the reports and the investigation is still ongoing,” it said.
