In January, at 100 years old, Mahathir suffered a fall at his home in Seri Kembangan that fractured his right hip. He spent weeks at the National Heart Institute undergoing physiotherapy without surgery. By late March, video footage showed him returning to his office at Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana, moving carefully but working again through documents at his desk.
Three months earlier, in a development few would have predicted, Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Commission had confirmed it was investigating Mahathir himself.
The irony cuts deep. Mahathir built much of his political comeback on a crusade against graft. When he returned to power in 2018 at age 92, he campaigned against corruption as the central justification for unseating Najib Razak and ending Barisan Nasional’s 60-year rule. His government promised investigations. His rhetoric was unforgiving. Corruption, he said, was destroying the nation.
Now, at 100, he stands under investigation.
The MACC confirmed in April 2024 that Mahathir was “among those being investigated.” The probe centres on assets allegedly held by his two eldest sons, Mokhzani and Mirzan Mahathir, linked to the Panama Papers and Pandora Papers—leaked documents revealing offshore holdings by wealthy individuals seeking to avoid taxes in their home countries. In January 2024, the MACC issued a notice requiring Mirzan to declare all assets held since 1981, the year Mahathir first became prime minister.
The investigation widens the net beyond Mahathir’s sons. In February 2024, the MACC charged Daim Zainuddin, Mahathir’s longtime associate and former finance minister, and his wife with failing to declare assets. In March 2024, British authorities announced they were assisting the MACC investigation into Mahathir’s alleged assets.
Mahathir’s response has been dismissal.
In interviews with Al Jazeera and CNBC in June 2024, he denied all corruption, saying his wealth derived entirely from his salary accumulated over 29 years in government. “I am curious as I have not seen this money and don’t know where they are,” he told Al Jazeera. “If I had taken the money, tell the court how you conclude that I had taken the money.” He dismissed the investigation as selective prosecution by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, his former protégé turned rival, designed to target political opponents.
Anwar has refuted the charge, insisting that the investigations represent a genuine anti-corruption drive and that he does not intervene in legal cases. In public remarks, Anwar framed the probes as necessary. “Every time action is taken against high-profile individuals, many complain and sigh,” he said at a party gathering. “Some even defend them and give excuses: ‘Enough already.’” He noted that Malaysia had lost approximately $58.4 billion to graft between 2018 and 2023.
The broader context matters. When Mahathir first assumed office in 1981, corruption existed within the system but operated within boundaries. During his 22-year first tenure, analysts later documented how government mega-projects enriched connected elites. One biography, by Barry Wain, contended that under Mahathir the government squandered approximately 100 billion ringgit (around $40 billion) through corruption and ill-conceived business ventures. Mahathir publicly challenged the figure and threatened to sue.
When he returned to power in 2018, Mahathir pledged to investigate corruption from the previous Najib administration. He appointed investigators. He made speeches. He positioned himself as the man who would finally clean house. The 1MDB scandal, which consumed Najib and generated billions in alleged theft, dominated his rhetoric.
What the 2018-2020 government did not do was investigate Mahathir’s own record. When he departed in February 2020 following internal coalition conflict, that investigation remained dormant.
Under Anwar, it resumed. The MACC began asking questions about assets held by Mahathir’s sons. They requested asset declarations. They coordinated with British authorities to trace offshore holdings potentially connected to the 1981-2003 period when Mahathir controlled government spending and patronage networks.
Whether these investigations yield charges remains unclear. Mahathir has not been formally accused of any crime. His sons face inquiries but no public charges. The family of his recently passed longtime ally Daim faces asset-disclosure charges, not corruption charges per se.
What is established is that the man who campaigned against corruption at 92 is now, at 100, the subject of a corruption investigation. The symbolism is unavoidable. The “untouchable” old guard that Mahathir once represented is no longer off-limits to legal scrutiny. The man who built his 2018 comeback on anti-graft promises now finds himself on the receiving end of the machinery he activated.
Whether that machinery is functioning as designed or has become a tool for political score-settling remains the central question Anwar and Mahathir continue to dispute.
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