Daim Zainuddin, two-time Malaysian finance minister, dies at 86

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Daim ZainuddinTwo-time finance minister who pleaded not guilty accusations of not disclosing assets His family said he died on Wednesday, November 13 this year.

The 86-year-old helped steer the Southeast Asian country through economic recession and the Asian financial crisis during his time as finance minister from 1984 to 1991 and as former prime minister from 1999 to 2001. Mahathir Muhammad.

“I have lost a friend who fought alongside me for his race, his country and his religion,” Dr Mahathir said in a statement, adding that he was “immeasurably saddened” by the death.

Daim, Dr. During Mahathir’s two tenures as the country’s leader, he wielded enormous power.

In 2018, Dr. After Mahathir became prime minister for the second time, he appointed Daim as chairman of the five-member committee. Council of Eminent Personsgave him advice on socio-economic and financial matters.

The family said in a statement, without specifying the cause of death, that Daim died in a hospital on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur, where his funeral will be held at the national mosque on Wednesday.

“He was in the intensive care unit after suffering a stroke in the past few weeks,” his lawyer Gurdial Singh Nijar, who confirmed the death to Reuters earlier, said, but added that he did not know the cause.

In December last year, CNA broke the news He said Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency had seized the multimillion-dollar Inspiration Tower, a 60-storey prime commercial building in Kuala Lumpur owned by Daim’s family.

The move by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was part of an investigation into controversial transactions by corporate entities previously controlled by the once-ruling United Malays National Organisation.

Earlier this year Daim was charged with: not disclosing assets Under the anti-corruption law, within the scope of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government’s fight against corruption.

He has pleaded not guilty in the case, one of the most high-profile such actions against prominent figures.