An Ex-Finance Minister is Being Investigated For Storing Hundreds of Billions of Ringgit in Assets Abroad

A former Finance Minister is currently being investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in connection with the Pandora Papers, which revealed the storage of assets worth hundreds of BILLIONS of Ringgit abroad.

According to a report by Berita Harian, the former minister in question has been interrogated at the MACC Headquarters in Putrajaya.

It was also informed that the current investigation is aimed at the extraordinary wealth owned by several individuals, including former ministers and other dignitaries and their families, in addition to their links with offshore companies abroad.

On top of that, MACC is also investigating the possibility of financial links owned, as a result of government tenders and projects. So far, no assets have been frozen by MACC.

As stated in the Pandora Papers, about 12 Malaysians individuals including 4 politicians were among dozens of heads of states, government officials and rulers from around the world who were found to be using offshore tax havens to hide assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, over the past 25 years.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (DSAI), when he was Leader of the Opposition, once proposed to debate the disclosure of the Pandora Papers. In a 2021 Parliament session, he had even accused the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat of deliberately rejecting the motion and claimed that Datuk Azhar Azizan acted as a ‘lawyer’ for the political leaders and businessmen mentioned in the report.

He added that the Pandora Papers need to be presented and debated as there are allegations of large amounts of money from Malaysia kept abroad, reaching hundreds of billions of Ringgit.

As explained by DSAI at the time, the debate should be done immediately as it not only involves the Pandora Papers, but also the that the 2012 Global Financial Integrity (GFI) report and the Panama Papers disclosure in 2015.

The GFI and the Panama Papers, among others, revealed the illegal flow of money and state abroad amounting to RM1,800 billion from 2004 to 2015.

Do stay tuned for more updates.

Also read: “Don’t challenge me” – DSAI Tells Muhyiddin Yassin Over Alleged Misappropriation of RM600 Billion