DISTURBING & CUNNING LIES SUGGEST AZAM BAKI HAS BEEN WEAPONIZED BY A DESPERATE ANWAR - DAIM'S WIFE SCORNS & EXPOSES 'PARTICULARLY OFFENSIVE' MACC CHIEF - DAIM NOT HIDING HIS FACE UNLIKE ANWAR - HE'S READY TO FACE ANY CHARGE, ANYWHERE, EVEN IN HOSPITAL ITSELF!
Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!
KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - The disturbing and cunning lies allegedly told by Azam Baki, the scandal-tainted chief of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, appear to show he has backing from the very highest level, perhaps Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim himself.
In a swift response on Wednesday (Jan 24), the wife of former finance minister Daim Zainuddin rubbished Azam's claim that the MACC had already notified their lawyers that graft prosecutors would be charging charge her husband, whom Anwar is known to have a long-running feud with.
“I can confirm that neither myself nor our legal counsel was ever informed that Daim would be charged for any offence," Naimah Khalid said in a statement.
“We were only told that a statement was to be recorded from him.
“Only today, reading the news reports, have I discovered that Daim is to be charged.”
"OFFENSIVE" LIES - IS TAKING A STATEMENT THE SAME AS PREFERRING CHARGES IN COURT?
Naimah herself was charged for failing to declare her assets to the MACC a day ago. She pleaded not guilty to the charge which carries a maximum of five years jail and RM100,000 fine upon conviction.
Today, she was responding to Azam's statement that his agency had been given the go-ahead to charge the former finance minister a week ago. However this could not be done as Daim was admitted to hospital, due to unspecified health reasons, claimed Azam.
The MACC chief also said that Daim’s lawyers were informed on the matter.
The 66-year-old Naimah, who openly and publicly rebuked Anwar for waging a political vendetta against Daim husband, said the insinuations made by Azam that her husband was somehow evading being charged by getting hospitalized were “false and mischievous”.
“Particularly offensive are his disparaging remarks against the dedicated and professional doctors of this hospital,” she said.
“Let me state unequivocally that Daim is prepared to face any charge, anywhere, and will vigorously defend himself in accordance with the law.
“He has been warded and is undergoing treatment.
“Subject to the permission of the hospital and medical team, Daim is prepared to face this political charge in the hospital itself.
“We will leave this to Azam and the MACC to decide,” Naimah added.
Indeed, there appears to be a campaign by quarters within the Anwar regime to stir public anger against Daim and former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. It is an open secret within political circles that Anwar blames the pair for his fall from power in 1998, when he was sacked as deputy premier and finance minister after he was charged and later convicted for sodomy and abuse of power.
Pro-Anwar media have rushed to paint Naimah as a money-crazed megalomaniac in the stereotype of Rosmah Mansor, the Birkin bags and diamonds-loving wife of ex-premier Najib Razak, or Philippines' Imelda Marcos, the former first lady notorious for owning thousands of pairs of shoes.
However, the elegant and rather quiet Naimah has proved to have her own personality - winning public sympathy with her dignified defense of her family and no-holds-barred statements against Anwar - who by contrast is perceived to be becoming more vindictive and malicious by the day as he fights for a political survival that many savvy insiders believe is already and inevitably doomed.
“The real crime is the coordinated plot to tarnish my husband’s reputation and exact political revenge and retribution against him and our family," Naimah had told reporters after pleading not guilty on Tuesday.
“The real crime is the emasculation and manipulation of key national institutions such as the MACC and Attorney-General’s Chambers as weapons in a political vendetta,” she stressed.
VOLTE FACE - BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCKING TOGETHER?
Indeed, Azam has graft scandals of his own involving the inappropriate buying of shares that he had insisted was done by his brother. In fact, Anwar and his Pakatan Harapan coalition had hammered the then prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who had appointed Azam, for not calling for his resignation.
Rafizi Ramli, a leader in Anwar's PKR party and now the Economy minister, even publicly warned that Azam would be among the first of those he would go after and probe for corruption if Anwar and Pakatan won the 2022 general elections.
"The volte face has been stunning and that's why there's a feeling of public distrust and disgust against Anwar more than against Daim and Mahathir. It's exactly as Naimah said - the MACC has been weaponized to go after political foes," a veteran political watcher told Politics Now!
"Nobody is against any anti-corruption campaign especially against the political bigwigs like Mahathir and Daim - but there must be professionalism or justice won't be seen to be done. So where is the probe against Azam himself? Where is the RCI?
"And what about the former Attorney-General who suddenly decided to release Anwar's political ally Zahid Hamidi from a corruption case which was already being tried in court. So that's the political hypocrisy that Malaysians can't swallow."
"Corruption is everywhere - who's to say Anwar regime won't help themselves to the public coffers once they have established a climate of fear and oppression where no one dares to speak up against them - much like what they are accusing Daim and Mahathir of having done.
"So this is why many believe the much-talked about move to topple Anwar will succeed because his political desperation is palpable. He's just a year in power and already his government is committing the excesses typical of dictatorial regimes that were decades old and about to implode."
Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!
Politics Now!
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