Malaysia’s Brewing ‘Corporate Mafia’ Scandal
Malaysia’s Brewing ‘Corporate Mafia’ Scandal
Rival rogue businessmen use different enforcement units for hostile takeover
By: Wong Chin Huat
Malaysia, having suffered through the global financial scandal involving Malaysia’s sovereign investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (IMDB) that brought down one of the world’s longest ruling parties, United Malays National Organization (UMNO), and sent its former Prime Minister Najib Razak to jail, is now embroiled in another affair, allegedly involving rival “corporate mafias” in which predatory rogue businessmen have used the threat of two different elite law enforcement institutions’ investigations to assist their acquisition attempts.
The affair has snowballed and looks likely to cause further cracks in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s political base. At the center is a lucrative IT company named NexG Bhd, formerly Datasonic Group Bhd, a major security-based solutions provider specializing in national projects like passports and the MyKad, Malaysia’s mandatory smart national identity card. There are reports swirling that both the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission and the Royal Malaysian Police’s Anti-Money Laundering (AMLA) unit are being used to benefit different factions of the corporate mafia via blackmail to force divestiture of shares in billion-dollar businesses, involving national security, biometric technology and foreign labor trade.
The man in the eye of the storm – or one eye – is Azam Baki, the chief of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), accused in a Bloomberg News 6,000-word investigation of assisting a cabal of businessmen in seizing control of local companies under threat of violence and protecting them from prosecution. Azam has been instrumental to Anwar Ibrahim’s anti-corruption drive, which some have criticized for targeting the premier’s enemies, including the children of former Prime Minister Mohamad Mahathir, and letting off his allies.
So far, Azam has escaped any retribution stemming from the minutely detailed Bloomberg report, with most observers saying he is too valuable to Anwar to face real scrutiny. Bloomberg reported that Anwar is blocking the release of a report of an investigation into Azam’s shareholdings amid speculation that the probe may have uncovered ownership of at least RM14 million worth of shares he is said to hold. Bloomberg also speculated that Azam, whose tenure at MACC is unlikely to be extended amid pressure for his immediate dismissal, is now seeking appointment as a senator, a position that would require Anwar to recommend him to Malaysia’s king, the Agong.
Earlier this month, Victor Chin Boon Long, the rogue businessman exposed in the February Bloomberg report as allegedly selecting vulnerable companies, then having the MACC carry out investigations to force them into takeovers, himself claimed to be a victim of the corporate mafia. His allegations have dragged in politicians directly linked to Anwar and the AMLA unit.
Chin, who by all accounts is no angel, allegedly having used the MACC to inflict fear and intimidation on takeover targets, asserted that 500 bank accounts held by his associates were frozen by the AMLA unit to force them to surrender shares for free, and more explosively, that last October 18 an MP in Anwar’s People’s Justice Party (PKR) requested RM10 million (US$2.287 million), of which he paid RM9.5 million to resolve his legal problems. Chin threatened to name the MP if he didn’t return the RM9.5 million the MP allegedly took without resolving his troubles. Chin described a “Mr R” as the culprit, leading to a brief guessing game as to who among PKR’s 31 MPs fit the initials.
Rafizi Ramli, Anwar’s former deputy who has now turned fierce critic and is pursuing the allegations surrounding Azam Baki and the MACC, insinuated that the MP is likely R. Ramanan, Anwar’s favourite minister and a PKR vice president and alleged that “Mr R” is a lawyer named Sandraruben Neelamagham, better known as Ruben, who formerly served Farhash Wafa Salvador, a former Anwar’s senior aide believed by many to be Anwar’s money man. Farhash has gone on to found the company Swag Technologies and is an independent non-executive director of the Singapore-listed Bluemont Group Ltd, now known as Southern Archipelago Ltd.
Whatever the veracity of that allegation, there has been a months-long fight over NexG Bhd, which has served as a political football for more than a decade as rival political interests, including the UMNO and PKR, have fought over control of its lucrative government contracts. In mid-March, according to Channel News Asia, Anwar was forced to step in to put a stop to a struggle for control of NexG between Farhash and businessman Ishak Ismail, another long-time Anwar associate, ultimately deciding in favor of Ishak Ismail to lead the company.
NexG secured RM 1.73 billion to supply Malaysian passports in August 2025 and won another six-year contract worth RM732.72 million to supply MYCAD smart national identity cards in early October, with an 18-month extension for continued supply of foreign worker cards, all from the PKR-helmed Ministry of Home Affairs. Together they totaled RM2.6 billion. A bewilderingly complex series of corporate moves occurred as varying sides fought for control.
The company’s then co-founding chairman, Hanifah Noordin, a Chin ally, alleged that the new directors that came to control NextG in October wanted to subcontract the RM2.6 billion deal to other companies including NexG’s competitor HeiTech Padu. At Anwar’s order, six NexG board directors aligned with Farhash resigned on March 11. Records show Farhash was a substantial shareholder of HeiTech Padu in March 2024. In October the same year, the company was awarded a contract for the National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe), Malaysia’s proposed AI-powered immigration system designed to modernize border control, improve security, and enhance service delivery, whose value was later raised to RM 1.05