KUALA LUMPUR – A seemingly low-profile businessman who happens to be the eldest son of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Mirzan Mahathir, has now found himself under the glare of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
A Wharton School graduate, the 65-year-old is now the star of investigations into his business empire after his name cropped up in the leaked Panama Papers, published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in 2016.
Without going into details, MACC said it is also probing his business activities linked to the sale and acquisition of government-linked companies (GLCs).
This is far from the first time his business dealings have made it into the public limelight.
Last year, several companies associated with him were mentioned in an ongoing suit initiated by his father against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Dr Mahathir had accused Anwar of defamation over comments on abusing power to enrich his family.
As Mirzan puts together what appears set to be an extraordinary laundry list of assets to declare to the anti-graft agency, Scoop takes a look at some of the many corporations that have been tied to his name.
Mirzan in the Panama Papers
The Panama Papers are a massive leak of documents secured by the ICIJ containing millions of financial and legal records from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca – which provides services for the establishment of entities in offshore tax havens, where accounts are said to be undetectable.
While Malaysian law – as with legislation in most other nations – does not illegalise storing assets offshore or using shell companies to do international business, such practices are often tied to the crime of tax evasion, fraud and money laundering.
This is especially so if a shell company’s records show that it does not appear to undertake real business activities, feeding into the perception that such entities are benefitting from their structure which can be a convenient tool to conceal financial transactions.
In Mirzan’s case, the Panama Papers lists the once-45th richest Malaysian as a director and shareholder of three Labuan-registered offshore companies, which are said to still be active as of press time, according to checks on ICIJ’s online offshore leaks database.
The first is Utara Capital Ltd, which was incorporated on August 19, 1997, with an authorised share capital of US$15,000 – followed by the US$12,000 Crescent Energy Ltd on December 13, 2003.
Al Sadd Investments Pte Ltd has Mirzan as its sole director and shareholder since the day it was formed on May 14, 2009, with an authorised share capital of US$12,000.
Besides the above three entities, Mirzan’s name also crops up as one of three shareholders in Sergio International Ltd, a British Virgin Islands-registered company established on March 8, 2002, before it was deemed inactive and struck off in 2006.
Additionally, a representative from investment holding company Crescent Capital Sdn Bhd, which was founded by Mirzan in 1991, told Malaysiakini in 2016 that the two other Sergio shareholders, in the early 2000s, had approached Mirzan to start a “landscape business”.
The anonymous representative, however, denied Mirzan’s involvement with Sergio and asserted that the offshore entity is not related to Crescent Capital.
Based on the company’s profile detailed in Companies Commission of Malaysia documents sighted by Scoop, Mirzan was appointed as director and manager in 2007 and continues to hold both positions.
While the sole shareholder of the RM500,000 company is Strategem Sdn Bhd, which is another entity related to Mirzan, Crescent Capital appears to be financially struggling as it recorded RM913,448 worth of losses after tax for the financial year ending December 31, 2022.
Ghost of Mirzan’s past dealings resurfaces in Dr Mahathir v Anwar suit
In his statement of defence against Dr Mahathir’s RM150 million defamation suit, Anwar said the former had practised cronyism by, among others, bailing out Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd (KPB), a company associated with Mirzan, during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
The company, which had Mirzan as its majority shareholder and director during the region’s stock market collapse, was bailed out by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and the Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Bhd (MISC), said Anwar.
This is despite the then-Dr Mahathir-led government having repeatedly stated that the government would not financially aid or rescue struggling Malaysian companies amid the regional stock market crash.
Anwar, who was finance minister at that time, also claimed that after he had rejected a financial assistance request from KPB in July 1997, Dr Mahathir had directed him to devise a “special scheme” to disburse approximately RM2 billion from the Treasury to help out KPB.
When told that the proposed disbursement would require the presentation of a supplementary budget in Parliament, Anwar said Dr Mahathir “became upset” while highlighting that Mirzan and himself would be “embarrassed” if the matter was brought up in the Dewan Rakyat.
Subsequently, Anwar said he was later informed by Petronas’ former president and chief executive officer Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican that Dr Mahathir had directed the national energy group to bail out KPB.
On March 6, 1998, Petronas announced its plans to acquire KPB’s shipping assets. On the same day, MISC entered into two memoranda of understanding (MoU) with Petronas and KPB.
Pursuant to transactions carried out under the MoUs, Anwar said KPB received a total sum of US$220 million (RM836 million) – resulting in its RM189.78 million loss for the financial year ending on December 31, 1997, to be immediately eliminated.
This then paved the way for the company to post a profit of RM126.53 million the following financial year-end.
Anwar also cited the awarding of a RM214.2 million Telekom Malaysia Bhd contract to Opcom Sdn Bhd through direct negotiations, as approved by the Finance Ministry in 2003, when Dr Mahathir was both prime minister and finance minister.
Contracted by the GLC to supply fibre optic cables and provide engineering services, Anwar said Opcom had Mirzan as a shareholder and Dr Mahathir’s third son, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, as a director between 1994 to 2009, while Mukhriz’s wife Toh Puan Norzieta Zakaria was also a majority shareholder and director.
In June 2004, Opcom assigned its rights, title, benefits and interests in the contract sum to Opcom Holdings Sdn Bhd, which was later known as Opcom Holdings Bhd before changing its name to Hextar Capital Bhd, as disclosed in a Bursa Malaysia notice on December 7, 2023.
Besides that, Anwar also said Telekom had awarded Opcom Cables Sdn Bhd the RM11.157 million Rakan Unifi contract on May 14, 2018 – just four days after Dr Mahathir was sworn in as the seventh prime minister and before the formation of a new cabinet.
Opcom Cables, Anwar said, had three of Dr Mahathir’s sons and one of his daughters-in-law as its directors for ranging periods, with Mirzan the last of the family to let go of the position in 2021.
How many other companies have Mirzan’s name?
With more than 30 years of working experience, it is said that Mirzan has managed to assert his presence in nearly 100 local and international corporate entities, spanning various industries while holding board positions in several public and private limited companies.
One of the listed companies featuring Mirzan in a prominent position is electronic products developer and manufacturer Betamek Bhd, where he was made a managing director in January 2022 – a mere month after joining its board.
According to its 2023 annual report published on Bursa Malaysia in July last year, Mirzan is considered a major shareholder of the company as he has a direct interest share in Iskandar Holdings Sdn Bhd, which has a 72.03% equity stake in Betamek.
The report also states that Mirzan’s group managing director role brings with it a remuneration of RM768,000, out of which RM480,000 is his salary. Notably, Mirzan was the only senior management to receive RM15,000 in benefits-in-kind.
The information available on Betamek’s website regarding Mirzan shows that he was formerly a systems engineer at the renowned IBM World Trade Corporation (1982-1985) and an associate at an American investment bank, Salomon Brothers Inc (1986-1990).
He was also involved with investment holding companies Dataprep Holdings Bhd (1991-2006) and Sabit Sdn Bhd (1990-1992) as chairman and executive chairman, respectively.
The company’s online page also states that he joined the Philippine Stock Exchange-listed oil refining and marketing company Petron Corporation in 2010 as a non-executive director, continuing to hold the position until today.
Besides that, Mirzan’s name appears as a board member and shareholder for internationally-acclaimed jewellery brand Auroria Italia International Bhd.
Beginning 2014, he was also part of drilling and related equipment distributor SBI Offshore Ltd in Singapore as executive chairman until his resignation in 2020. – January 20, 2024