DR Mahathir Mohamad’s sons clarified today that they are not the subject of any Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation.
In a joint statement, Mirzan and Mokhzani said they are keen to prove that the wealth they own was accumulated over the years through legitimate means.
“We would like to put it on record that, contrary to media reports, we are not the subject of any MACC investigation.
“The notice handed out to each of us was issued as a ‘son’ of a person suspected to have committed an offence under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009,” they said in the statement.
“We understand the whole exercise is to determine if our father abused his position as prime minister to enrich us,” they said in the statement.
Their statement comes after MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki confirmed that the anti-graft agency is investigating their father, Dr Mahathir.
Azam said MACC’s order to Mahathir’s sons Mokhzani and Mirzan to declare their assets was related to the probe.
The brothers said they appreciated the extension of the deadline MACC had given them to declare their assets.
“Given that we are required to declare our assets over a period of 43 years and due to the scarcity of information with every passing year, it would greatly assist us if MACC could specify the period that holds the highest significance for their investigations.
“There are insinuations that the reason why we need more time is due to the extent of our wealth. This is not true at all,” they said.
They said most of the documents were no longer available, especially from the financial institutions and even from the public sectors.
They said the Inland Revenue Board required taxpayers to keep their tax records for only seven years.
“Having said that, we have been working hard and putting in as much effort as possible to collect these documents, but some are near impossible to retrieve as they are just no longer in existence.” – April 27, 2024.
