Halim Saad breaks silence, denies quizzed over Renong shares deal

Halim Saad breaks silence, denies quizzed over Renong shares deal


Businessperson Halim Saad has broken his silence over MACC summoning him for questioning.

He denied reports which stated that the commission summoned him over the alleged transaction involved in the purchase of a 32.6 percent stake or 722.9 million shares in Renong Bhd by United Engineers (M) Bhd (UEM) for RM2.3 billion in November 1997.

The deal took place in the midst of the Asian financial crisis and reportedly led to the KL Composite Index plunging by 20 percent.

“MACC did not call me in for questioning on the issue as speculated in the media,” Halim told FMT Business.

The FMT article noted that The Edge, apart from quoting an MACC source claiming that the probe concerned the Renong transaction, had also republished in full three of its articles from 1997 regarding the share acquisition to “refresh the memory of readers as well as enlighten those who were not aware of this transaction.”

Halim said the articles fuelled unfounded speculations about him and cast aspersions over his role in UEM’s purchase of the Renong shares.

“I challenge them to provide evidence of my wrongdoing in the transactions in question,” he said.

However, the FMT report did not shed light on why MACC summoned him.

Last week, it was reported that MACC quizzed a former senior minister and businessperson.

Yesterday, Malaysiakini identified them as Daim Zainuddin, who was finance minister twice during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s first tenure as prime minister, and Halim.

Malaysiakini reported that both of them did not respond to queries sent to their respective aides regarding the MACC investigation.


Pandora Papers

Previously, Bernama reported that the MACC investigation is a continuation and extension of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ (ICIJ) disclosure of confidential documents, known as the Pandora Papers, regarding suspected transactions in several offshore financial centres.

The Pandora Papers leak occurred in 2021 when an anonymous source shared with ICIJ 2.94 terabytes of confidential financial files, amounting to more than 11.9 million documents and other records, from 14 offshore service providers that set up and manage shell companies and trusts in tax havens around the globe.

Following this leak, Daim criticised Malaysiakini for what he claimed to be its “unending obsession” with him. This was after this news portal published a report on his offshore trusts.