MACC again seizes Ilham Tower linked to late Daim's family

• With the seizure, all transactions involving the transfer of ownership of the property are now prohibited, the MACC said.

KUALA LUMPUR (June 5): The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has once again seized Ilham Tower in Jalan Binjai here, owned by the family of the late Tun Daim Zainuddin, this time in connection with alleged money laundering.

The MACC said in a statement that the deputy public prosecutor, who has the power to seize property under the law, agreed with the MACC officer’s findings that the property is linked to money laundering under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

The seizure was done under Section 51(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, which allows the takeover of a building that is suspected of having been obtained through illegal means.

With the seizure, all transactions or transfers of ownership involving Ilham Tower are now prohibited, the MACC said.

This is the second time Ilham Tower has been seized. The first time was in December 2023, when the MACC invoked Section 38(1) of the MACC Act 2009, which allows property tied to corruption to be frozen for up to 18 months for possible forfeiture.

This latest action came after MACC chief Tan Sri Azam Baki said in May that the commission was considering the forfeiture of undeclared assets belonging to the late Daim, which is estimated to be worth over RM2 billion.

At the time, Azam said the MACC had opened eight investigation papers into the case, based on new information from foreign agencies, which indicated that assets belonging to Daim, his family and associates were not disclosed to the MACC during its investigation in 2023.

"If the assets were indeed undeclared, it constitutes an offence under our Act (MACC Act 2009)," Azam was reported as saying then, and that the MACC would propose that the assets be forfeited to the government.

On June 3, the High Court froze £132 million (about RM758 million) in assets in London, allegedly owned by Daim’s wife Toh Puan Na’imah Abdul Khalid following an application by the MACC, also under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Ilham Tower, located in KL’s Golden Triangle at Jalan Binjai, is a 60-storey building with offices and serviced apartments.

It is not immediately clear whether the latest action constitutes a re-seizure or a new seizure.

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