'Daim the last person to talk about graft’ - by : Syed Jaymal Zahiid

Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin is least qualified to talk about battling corruption, say Pakatan leaders.

KUALA LUMPUR : Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin is the last person who should talk about battling graft, given his alleged past corrupt practices, Pakatan Rakyat leaders said today.

“He should be the last person to speak about corruption,” DAP stalwart and Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang told a press conference at the Parliament lobby here.

Daim, who was twice finance minister under former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had said in an interview published today that investors were more concerned with the existence of a fair legal system and good infrastructure than the cost of investing in Malaysia.

“A good investment climate is the result of joint support from all parties. Good governance – one that is free from corruption – transparency and certainty are what investors are looking for,” he said in a two-part interview with Utusan Malaysia.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim at the same press conference said Daim’s statement was nothing but an attempt to “salvage” Barisan Nasional’s (BN) chances of retaining Sarawak in the upcoming April 16 state polls.

“Daim’s statement is just an attempt to salvage the situation in Sarawak where corruption is rife,” Anwar said.

Daim, a respectable figure in the corporate scene and a close friend of Mahathir, was a key player in the privatisation of tolled highway concessionaire PLUS and also national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS), claimed Anwar.

Anwar, the former deputy prime minister who once worked with Daim, accused him of appointing his own proxies to benefit from privatisation deals.

Daim was dropped from the Cabinet following rumours over his integrity, according to Mahathir who gave his account of the incident in his recently released memoirs.

Lim said instead of beating his chest about battling graft, Daim should seek a clarification from Mahathir who had said that he was twice forced to allow Daim to leave his Cabinet after he refused to rebut accusations of graft.

Mahathir had also written that he was left to defend Daim against repeated allegations that the latter had appointed proxies and lined his own pockets (in business deals).

Daim first became finance minister in 1984 and was immediately accused of having financial interests in companies linked to his cronies during the government’s privatisation exercise.

“Yet, undeterred, he went ahead with the privatisation projects and many of his protégés were the beneficiaries,” Mahathir wrote.

Free Malaysia Today