‘Tycoon’s Hummer used by Nazri’s son’

PKR shows an extensive account of how Nazri's son, Nedim, supposedly benefited from controversial timber tycoon Michael Chia.

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KUALA LUMPUR:  PKR has come up with proof supposedly showing senior minister Nazri Abdul Aziz’s son using a car belonging to timber tycoon Michael Chia.

Armed with photographs and screenshots, PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli detailed an extensive account of Nedim Nazri Aziz’s use of a black Hummer worth more than RM459,000.

He showed that the Hummer (registered plate: WNX 9776) was not only used by Nedim’s personal bodyguard and driver, but was also seen parked at the Clearwater Residence apartments, Damansara Heights, where Nedim is said to live.

The expose comes several days after Nazri, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, denied receiving any money from Chia, who was embroiled in the RM40 million Sabah Umno scandal involving various senior government officials, including Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman.

“We have established that this Hummer is not owned by Nazri’s son, but Chia,” said Rafizi.

He said that they were first able to determine the car’s owner by checking the Hummer’s traffic fine status through the MyEg website; which clearly showed that the car belonged to a Chia Tien Foh, or Michael Chia.

Rafizi added that PKR devised a surveillance team of its own to not only tail Nedim and the car, but to also monitor his Internet usage, particularly through his and his wife Bee-Khan’s Twitter acounts.

He also showed photographs of Nedim’s Clearwater apartment, sourced from various Twitter accounts.

To cement this further, Rafizi said that he and his team disguised themselves as “real estate agents” to probe the apartments and see if the photos were similar to what they saw at Clearwater.

He also showed a blurred image of Nedim and Bee-Khan’s son supposedly traveling in the Hummer.

“If this is not bribery I don’t know what it is. At the very least, ethically there is a question of conflict of interest where he (Nazri) should take moral and political responsibility for it,” Rafizi said.

He asked how Nazri was able to let his son use Chia’s car, after the tycoon was supposedly arrested by Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for smuggling RM40 million.

Nazri had earlier told Parliament that Chia was never arrested by the ICAC, a matter that was disputed by Rafizi.

ICAC’s reputation at stake
The PKR leader claimed that the ICAC had to drop the case – which began in 2008- as there was no cooperation from the Malaysian government, particularly Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail.

He added that he intended to go to Hong Kong and was waiting for a response from the ICAC over this.

“It’s going to be a different ball game this time around. It’s not about ICAC, but the reputation of ICAC which has been dragged into this,” he said.

Rafizi added that he was in contact with “other parties” in Hong Kong over the matter involving ICAC.

He added that he would “eventually” lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the matter.

‘Between my son and Chia’
In a response, Nazri told reporters that Chia’s car had nothing to do with him. He said: “That is between my son and Chia. If my son is friends with Chia, what has that got to do with me?”

He added that he had no influence over the AG’s chambers or the MACC, and shrugged off concerns that this would affect his political carreer.

Nazri also did not plan to sue Rafizi over his claims, terming the PKR man’s allegations as less than a “mosquito bite”.