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KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he was not told that the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) would raid opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin’s home in Damansara.
Speaking to reporters after performing his Friday prayers in Cyberjaya today, Anwar was reported as saying that he had no prior knowledge of the enforcement activities carried out on Wednesday night.
“That’s their (IRB and investigative authorities) business. I was not informed (about the raid),” he was quoted as saying by Free Malaysia Today when asked to comment on the matter.
Yesterday, several news outlets reported that Hamzah’s home was raided by the IRB, with a source from Perikatan Nasional (PN) telling FMT that “some documents (from Hamzah’s home) were seized”.
While the source claimed to not know the reason behind the raid, a different source from PN linchpin Bersatu, where Hamzah is secretary-general, said that the raid was aimed at “tarnishing (Bersatu’s) name and creating a negative perception against us”.
Hamzah was previously named, in his capacity as then home minister, in the charge sheet of a corruption case involving businessman Datuk Seri Sim Choo Thiam.
In May, Sim, 53, was charged by the sessions court here for soliciting and accepting bribes amounting to RM15 million to secure projects from the Home Ministry in 2021, during Hamzah’s tenure as minister.
Hamzah subsequently said the case aimed to besmirch the good name of PN and its linchpin Bersatu. - The Vibes, June 16, 2023
