Najib’s brother in war with Mahathir, Daim

New round in the Battle of the Umno Billions

Najib Tun Razak’s banker brother Nazir, boss of CIMB group, is taking on the Mahathir Mohamad-Daim Zainuddin axis in the latest round of the silentBattle of the Umno Billions, according to the website Suara Keadilan Pribumi.

In his latest posting Nazir goes to war and Najib may lose, the webmaster Jeremy Priven says that top officials at the EPF and the Treasury (ministry of finance) have become increasingly dissatisfied with Nazir channelling big government business to CIMB and to his clients and trying to get the EPF to invest in clients’ projects.

The posting warns of a campaign to discredit Nazir and his growing influence over economic and business policy, and the growing strength of CIMB group, and that Najib’s political hopes would suffer if Nazir took on Mahathir and Daim.

Nazir has struck a bold public face as a business liberal earning favourable comments as in a column by Tay Tian Yan of Sin Chew, who described Nazir as a possible finance minister and also by Mahathir loyalist blogger Rocky (Ahirudin Attan, advisor to the Malay Mail) who said “I can’t argue with Tay about Nazir’s credentials”.

Nazir hit the headlines in August when he came out strongly against the New Economic Policy in its current form “as having been bastardised” by deviating from its original purpose.

His remarks were in tune with the thoughts of other business leaders and political commentators who have attacked the cronyism, favouritism and greed in the name of the NEP that Mahathir and Daim encouraged over two decades.

Nazir’s comments drew immediate criticism from Ibrahim Ali of the Malay rights pressure group Perkasa, which is backed by Dr Mahathir, a strong defender of the NEP.

Suara Keadilan Pribumi’s posting comes in the wake of news that billionaire Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary, once regarded as a Mahathir-Daim ally, has submitted proposals for a takeover of PLUS toll highways in a deal involving the EPF.

The Syed Mokhtar proposal is in rivalry to an earlier proposal floated by Daim crony Halim Saad, the one-time wonder boy who put together the UEM-PLUS-Renong conglomerate that at one time also owned the New Straits Times Press and TV3.

Halim’s proposal was made just after Najib took over as prime minister. Two weeks ago, he surfaced in a rare interview with the NST complaining about Nor Mohd Yakcop and how the current economics czar and former finance minister had unfairly manoeuvred him out of UEM and PLUS.

PLUS is the holder of highway toll concessions which throw up mountains of cash from road users.

The interview was seen as a move to bolster his proposal for a takeover of all the toll roads in the country through his vehicle, the little-known company Asas Serba Sdn Bhd.

Nor Mohd Yakcop has been closely-linked to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his circle of business friends while he was finance minister in Abdullah’s government.

UEM and PLUS are now owned by Khazanah Nasional, the national asset holding and investment company and sovereign wealth fund.

Last week Khazanah confirmed that it was looking at Syed Mokhtar’s proposal.

Asas Serba had proposed to take over all toll highways for RM48bn and a 20% toll reduction across the board. Syed Mokhtar’s proposal is to buy over only UEM and PLUS for RM15.6bm with a 10% toll reduction.

However Syed Mokhtar also wants to take over government land in Sg Buloh and the police training centre in Jalan Gurney, KL.

Suara Keadilan Pribumi says Najib’s brother is going to war against Dr Mahathir, who has started a campaign to discredit Nazir, and has enlisted Khazanah’s help to block the Syed Mokhtar and the Daim-backed Halim Saad proposals.

It’s yet another round in the Battle of Umno’s Billions. More details are promised, as Dr Mahathir’s allies release more information against Nazir.

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» FULL REPORT: Suara Keadilan Pribumi

courtesy of uppercaise