TOH Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid, the wife of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, will be charged in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court tomorrow.
In a statement, she said a team of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers suddenly arrived at the hospital where Daim was warded, demanding to record her statement.
"MACC has already taken my statement on Jan 10 and this was despite the fact I assured them that I would give them a statement as soon as my husband’s medical procedure is over tomorrow.
"I was then told that I was to be charged tomorrow under section 36(2) MACC 2009 for purportedly failing to comply with a notice asking to disclose information on assets.
"I asked for the charge to be done just one day later on Wednesday after my husband’s medical procedure, but this was refused. They insisted I be charged tomorrow.
"I will be in court tomorrow. I will fight this charge," she said.
A check with the court's e-filing system confirmed her name was on the list of cases appearing before Judge Azura Alwi at 9am.
Na’imah, 67, and her two sons, Amir Zainuddin and Amin Zainuddin were called up by the MACC to have their statements recorded on Jan 10.
Na'imah had claimed that her husband was being persecuted for his success, while the family's lawyers said the questioning was 'one giant fishing expedition', aimed at gathering information to charge Daim.
Last month, MACC seized the multi-million-dollar Ilham Tower, a key commercial property owned by Daim's family.
This action followed Daim’s alleged refusal to comply with petitions from MACC regarding the disclosure of his family’s financial holdings. It is also a component of an anti-money laundering inquiry initiated in late May.
This investigation focuses on a corporate transaction worth US$500 million (RM2.3 billion) in November 1997, which involved publicly listed Renong Bhd and United Engineers Malaysia Bhd (UEM). Both entities were previously integral components of the business empire associated with Umno. - The Vibes, January 22, 2024