TOH PUAN Na’imah Abdul Khalid has expressed confidence that she will be vindicated at the end of her imminent corruption trial after she was charged at the Kuala Lumpur sessions court today for not declaring her assets.
Emerging from the court, the wife of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin claimed that the real crime that was happening was in the manipulation of key institutions like the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and targeting of political opponents.
She claimed that state power was being manipulated for personal ends while charges were being dropped for cronies.
Na’imah also said she was overwhelmed by the support she had received.
She said that there has been much concern and solidarity shown to her and her family since news broke out yesterday that she would be charged.
“I will be vindicated at the end of all this,” she told reporters.
“Of course,” she added, when asked if she was confident of fighting out her case in court.
Earlier, she was charged with giving a sworn written statement that did not comply with the terms of the notice in accordance with Section 36(1)(b) MACC Act 2009, dated November 8 last year, which deals with identifying every property belonging to her or in her possession.
Section 36(2) of the MACC Act provides for a prison sentence of not more than five years and a maximum fine of RM100,000 if she is convicted.
Na’imah also took a shot at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“I say this to you, Anwar Ibrahim – that power is brief and there is always reckoning for those who abuse it.”
She then dished out a brief quote from playwright William Shakespeare: “… man, proud man, dress’d in a little brief authority”.
Asked about Daim’s health condition, she declined to elaborate, saying that she did not want to share personal medical information.
Daim, 85, has been reported to have been hospitalised since over a week ago.
She declined to take further questions, stressing that it had been a long day and she needed to go back to the hospital as she needed to be with her husband.
Asked why she had included a message for Anwar, she replied: “Well, I think it’s obvious.”
Earlier, she began by stressing that she had been charged with a criminal offence although she had not committed a crime, and that she would prove this in court.
“The real crime is the coordinated plot to tarnish my husband’s reputation and exact political revenge and retribution against him and our family,” she said in reading a prepared statement.
“The real crime is the emasculation and manipulation of key national institutions such as the MACC and AGC as weapons in a political vendetta.
“The real crime is the wielding of state power for personal ends and not for the benefit of the people.
“The real crime is targeting your political opponents with concocted charges whilst, to the outrage of an entire country, corruption charges are dropped against political cronies,” she added.
“The real crime is vengefully pursuing old political rivals, who hold no power now, with baseless charges whilst the economy stagnates, reforms are abandoned and the country forlorn.” – The Vibes, January 23, 2024
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