Anwar: Daim will have 'sleepless nights' if I become PM
SHAH ALAM, July 16 — PKR President Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today suggested that Tun Daim Zainuddin will face "sleepless nights" if the former becomes prime minister, warning that he will never stop uncovering alleged scandals involving the latter.
Anwar pointed to Daim being named in the leaked Pandora Papers, but insisted there is nothing personal between the two despite the latter's criticism against him and call for him to retire from politics.
"He, as the last person who wanted to see me as the prime minister, would have sleepless nights. I assure nothing is personal, although I had assumed the finance minister post after him.
"When I brought up the issue of the Pandora Papers where they squandered billions of dollars and he was named in it, he didn’t answer. I took up the issue not because of Daim but because he had to reply," he told a press conference here.
In a veiled reference to Daim, Anwar also said that those who allegedly benefited from corruption should not preach about the issue and good governance and corruption.
"People who have squandered and benefited from 1MDB and other scandals, treated Malaysians as fools, you have squandered the money you have to pay back. You cannot go around the country saying you want good governance and no corruption but benefited from deceit,” he said.
In an interview with the media last week, Daim had named Anwar as one of the leaders who should retire and give the opportunity to younger leaders.
Daim also claimed that Anwar had blocked Rafizi Ramli from going up PKR's hierarchy, blaming him for Rafizi's previous loss for the post of party deputy president to Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
In October last year, the so-called Pandora Papers — documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on tax havens preferred by the rich and powerful — had listed Daim among those implicated.
According to the documents, the companies and trusts held by Daim's children, wife or known business associates jointly were worth at least £25 million (about RM141 million).
Anwar has called for the papers to be investigated and had asked for the matter to be debated in Parliament, although it was rejected
Other than Daim, other Malaysians linked in the Pandora Papers were Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Azfrul Abdul Aziz, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, former deputy finance minister Yamani Hafez Musa and the family of fugitive businessman and central 1MDB figure Low Taek Jho.
