Malaysia’s former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin will be charged for failing to declare properties that allegedly belong to him and his wife.

However, the former minister cannot be charged just yet as he is in hospital, The Star reported on Jan. 24, 2024.

Daim 'as powerful as' Mahathir

You may be wondering, who is Daim?

Daim, 85, is a “close friend and confidante” of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, according to The Star. Both hail from the state of Kedah.

Daim served as finance minister twice under Mahathir’s administration, and treasurer for the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the main political party in the then-ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, though he was arguably more than a mere minister.

Known as an “economic troubleshooter”, Daim steered Malaysia out of two recessions in the mid-1980s and 1990s.

In Malaysia’s modern political history, Daim was considered to be "Malaysia's second most powerful man after Mahathir", Malaysiakini reported. While Mahathir set the direction, Daim was entrusted with executing his vision.

In addition to his business acumen, personal wealth and political influence, Daim was also noted for his "shrewd deal-making" and for "honouring his agreements", as observed by none other than Lee Kuan Yew.

Master of all trades

Before becoming finance minister, Daim was a lawyer and businessman, according to his website.

He ventured into businesses including property development, salt production, food manufacturing, and food packaging.

He also became the chairman of several companies in Malaysia, including in the banking and media sectors.

After that, Daim went into politics. The Star reported that he was appointed as a senator in 1980, and later elected to parliament in 1982.

Daim served as a Member of the Parliament in Kuala Muda and Merbok for UMNO.

Finance minister twice

Daim first served as finance minister twice from 1984 to 1991, and was succeeded by Anwar Ibrahim, who is the current prime minister of Malaysia.

According to Malaysiakini, Daim resigned and returned to his business career.

But he returned to the cabinet in Jun. 1998 as a special functions minister to help with the economic recovery after the Asian Financial Crisis.

According to the Washington Post, Daim had overall authority on economic policy.

He reversed many of Anwar's policies, who had disagreed with Mahathir on the best way to tackle the financial crisis, including Mahathir's plans on imposing currency controls.

After Anwar was sacked by Mahathir in 1998, Daim resumed holding his finance portfolio from 1999 to 2001.

On Jun. 1, 2001, Daim resigned from the finance ministry after taking a leave of absence for two months, with no public reasons given.

Unnamed diplomats quoted by Bloomberg at the time said that Daim was "tired" of politics and wanted to go back to the business world.

Life after the cabinet

Despite having "retired" from active politics, Daim remained an influential figure, according to Reuters.

In 2018, following the victory of the Pakatan Harapan coalition (with Mahathir as its head), Daim was appointed the leader of the Council of Eminent Persons to help the new government chart its way forward, The Star reported.

Later in 2019, Daim led renegotiations of several of Malaysia's deals with China, including the East Coast Rail Link project.

This project would provide a rail network to connect between the west coast of peninsular Malaysia and the east coast when completed, and passed the half-way mark in its completion in Sep. 2023.

Opening Pandora's box

In 2021, documents known as the Pandora Papers were leaked, revealing the offshore financial activities of world leaders, politicians, and public officials around the world, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Among the names of nine Malaysians in these leaked documents was Daim, CNA reported.

In the papers, Daim, his associates, and family members were alleged to have held offshore assets worth at least £25 million (S$42.60 million), as reported by Reuters.

After the papers were leaked, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said that it had launched investigations since Oct. 2022 on “all entities” who were named in the Pandora Papers, according to SCMP.

MACC stated that Daim's case was opened in Feb. 2023.

'Political witch-hunt': Daim

On Jun. 7, 2023, MACC issued a notice to Daim, requiring him to declare his domestic and overseas assets.

Despite applying for extensions five times in 2023, Daim still failed to declare his assets.

On Dec. 21, MACC seized the multimillion-dollar Ilham Tower in Kuala Lumpur, a prime commercial building owned by his family.

On Dec. 28, New Straits Times reported Daim denying the allegations and calling the probe a “political witch-hunt”  against him.

Daim was quoted by The Star saying on Jan. 13, 2024, that he had "always owned assets and properties overseas since the 1970s".

However, MACC said that they could not bring the charges on him yet, as Daim was reportedly admitted to a private hospital for undisclosed health issues, according to New Straits Times.

Top image from Tun Daim Zainuddin/Facebook.