Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency has confirmed that Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister, is being investigated in relation to a corruption investigation involving his sons.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) chief commissioner, Azam Baki, stated on Thursday at a news conference aired on national television, “I would like to confirm that in this investigation, he is among those being investigated.”
It has been speculated for weeks that Ex-PM Mahathir will face a probe, as the case involves several members of Mahathir's family and associates among the business elite.
“Let the investigations conclude first, until an appropriate time when we can state the findings of the case,” Azam told reporters in the northeastern state of Kelantan.
Mahathir Mohamad, 98, has been the PM of Malaysia, from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 to 2020.
MACC summons Ex-PM’s Sons
In January, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) charged three individuals, including two tycoons and Mahathir’s two eldest sons with corruption, MACC summoned Mokhzani, 63, and his 65-year-old brother Mirzan, requiring them to declare their assets, as part of investigations into offshore financial and business records (the Pandora and Panama Papers leaks).
In an interview with Bloomberg News last month, Mahathir's second-eldest son, Mokhzani Mahathir, stated that his father was the "primary suspect" in the probe.
Moreover, the MACC has filed multiple graft cases against well-known politicians, including close associates of Mahathir. Daim Zainuddin, a former finance minister and ally of Mahathir, and his spouse were accused by the Agency in February of withholding financial information.
After Daim, his close associate, Malaysia’s “Casio King”, tycoon Robert Tan Hua Choon, was also charged in early April with allegedly making false declarations in 2019 to win a US$840 million contract to run the federal government’s fleet of vehicles.The 83-year-old businessman, had previously secured a similar multi-billion ringgit concession to manage the government’s vehicle fleet that ran for 25 years starting in 1993, during Mahathir’s first term as PM.
Anwar Ibrahim vs Mahathir
A prominent figure in Malaysian politics, Mahathir Mohamad is well-known for his outspoken criticism of current PM Anwar Ibrahim. After running for prime minister in 2022 on a platform of eliminating corruption at the highest levels of government, Anwar has come under fire for allegedly using the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as a political vendetta tool
Critics have argued that Anwar is using a probe agency against Mahathir Mohamad, his former mentor who is now his rival. Anwar, however, has firmly denied these claims, claiming that the investigations are a component of the government's larger efforts to combat entrenched corruption within the country's power structures.
Mahathir and Anwar have been at odds since the latter part of the 1990s, when Anwar was sacked by Mahathir, the prime minister at the time, over a deeply hurtful decision. The subsequent detention of Anwar on accusations of sodomy and corruption widened the divide between the two leaders even more.
Anwar and his supporters vigorously denied any wrongdoing, but their long-lasting feud permanently changed Malaysia's political landscape and influenced the course of the country's politics for the next twenty years.
Investigation ‘Politically Motivated’?
Mahathir, who spent almost two months in the hospital receiving treatment for an infection before being released in late March, has frequently questioned the rationale behind the current anti-corruption campaign, which he says is ‘Politically Motivated”.
Mahathir issued a challenge to investigators last week, citing a notice sent to his sons stating that the MACC had determined he had committed the offence, challenging them to provide evidence of his alleged abuse of power while in government.
“As far as I know I have never been investigated. But the MACC notice said I have committed an offence,” the two-time prime minister said in a statement.
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