From Bloomberg, March 25:
- First confirmation anti-graft agency is investigating Mahathir
- Declaring assets dating back to 1981 is taking time, they say
Mahathir Mohamad’s two eldest sons said Malaysia’s anti-graft agency ordered them to assist with an investigation into their father, revealing for the first time that a monthslong probe is targeting the 98-year-old former premier.
“My father is the primary suspect,” Mokhzani Mahathir, 63, said in a March 23 interview in Kuala Lumpur. “We are witnesses to whatever it is that they’re investigating.”
In January, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission ordered Mokhzani and his elder brother Mirzan, 65, to declare their assets dating back to 1981, the year Mahathir became prime minister. The orders are part of investigations into offshore business records revealed by a journalism consortium, the MACC said at the time, without mentioning that the main target was Mahathir.
A spokesperson for the MACC said it was unable to comment on or confirm Mokhzani’s comments. Mahathir’s office hasn’t responded to a request for comment.
The brothers are assisting in the investigation, but the task is onerous and taking time, they said in the interview, which Mirzan joined by video call. Both have received two extensions of the original February deadlines for compliance.
The MACC hasn’t provided the brothers with any details of the investigation into Mahathir, according to Mokhzani.
“We did ask, ‘What is the investigation on my father about?’ and they were not able to furnish us with that information,” Mokhzani said. “Can you imagine you’re being asked to provide information to be used to prosecute your parent?”....
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