Kuala Lumpur: Former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin’s wife Toh Puan Nai’mah Abdul Khalid today slammed an online portal for allegedly tarnishing her husband’s name by accusing him of wrongdoing and possessing properties that were allegedly acquired illegally.
Nai’mah said that tarnishing someone’s reputation by making implicit accusations and assumptions without solid evidence is wrong and unethical.
“I refer to a news report published yesterday in an online portal claiming that so-called “leaked documents” reveal an offshore trust worth hundreds of millions owned by our family.
“It was reported in a sensational manner, intended to impute some form of wrongdoing or possession of ill-gotten wealth.
“We have made no secret of the fact that we own assets abroad. These were the product of legitimate business and investment activities, going back long before Daim joined politics in 1984,” she said in a statement.
She also questioned the credibility of the news report as she said the author of the report did not suggest any existence of a criminal element.
“Surely, in reporting news, it is neither ethical nor right to taint anyone’s reputation by incorporating innuendoes and imputations, unsupported by evidence.
“Isn’t this tantamount to character assassination under the guise of reportage?
“Further, in the absence of wrongdoing, is it justified to discuss anyone’s private financial holdings, whether those details are correct or not, in a manner calculated to suggest serious impropriety of some kind?” she asked.
She also claimed that the news report was undoubtedly intended to fan the fires of prejudice, rumour, and supposition against her family or any person in their situation.
