[KINI EXPLAINER] Asia's hidden richest man? A glimpse of Daim's wealth and empire

Is corporate godfather and former Minister of Finance Daim Zainuddin the 'hidden' richest individual in Asia? According to Daim, the value of his RM750 million assets, which he was ordered by the government to liquidate, would be worth more than RM42 billion if he had invested in an S&P 500 index fund in 1984.

KiniTV brings you another report to examine the wealth owned by Daim and his global banking empire.

Script: Vivian Yap, Yap Si Err
Host: Camelia Nor Azlan
Visual editor: Phung Yie Wen, Khoo Shi Yuan
Producers: Azreen Madzlan, Robin Koh

[Stickynotes]

How about Taib Mahmood of Sarawak. Please don’t let him free just like that. His family is extremely rich. But many people of Sarawak still live in poverty especially in the rural areas

[KarunanithiNRamachandran]

An honest man will lay bare his life but a dishonest man will try to hide it at all cost .

[blose]

These podcasts revealed Najib was not the only greedy one. Mahathir, Diam and their cronies indebted the country with their corruption and incompetencies. Now, I understand why the country can't even afford to build highways, train systems and many other infrastructure projects. It's was ridiculous how this country muddled through the decades without any proper overall economic plans. Thank god, Singapore was not part of Malaysia Federation.

[jamesadd]

Robert Kuok's net worth is around 10.2 billion USD and he has over 20 billion's net Government always said Chinese is the richest people in Malaysia and I highly doubt it.

[faizulanuar]

Sampat duduk Miri 2 bulan tahun 2012 dulu atas urusan kerja, kawan Sarawak ada bawak jalan2 tengok kemewahan tauke2 balak sana. Rumah agam, tembok2 tinggi melindungi taman mewah diorang, restoran, tempat lepak mereka, fuh lain macam. Teringat sampai sekarang weh. MACC, sila tambah staff cover tauke2 samseng2 Sarawak jugak!!

[makimoto]

What's amazing is how little work these people have done to become rich.

[genbond]

Daim was posted to Melaka when he was a young government official. He was poor and not rich then. He would often visit the Rich Chinese Towkays (Businessmen) and asked for "ahem" you know what! Many rich towkays knew how corrupted this particular young civil servant was! Just look for them if they are still alive and interview them. Most of them are gone to kingdom come by now but who knows, a few might still be kicking around. Btw KINI can try interviewing Robert Kuok who's moved to Hong Kong or China now.

[leelexus]

Mr M said bumiputra share not enough, this group of people are the main reason ( Daim one of them )

[poovaneswaransupramaniam]

Daim is mahathir's go to book keeper and fortune stasher, for the mahathir's family since 1981 to 2024....so both fellows swindled, siphoned and lined their pockets many times over....

[ChanYB]

Manage to stay under the radar so long. Good job!

[asrulismail]

dont be dumb, he is the worlds richest man. A malaysian for goodness sake. 10 trillion in assets. He was already a billionaire in the 70s. Whoever says he is a billionaire is a disgrace to himself. The first trillionaire in the world. Proud to be malaysian. :) Malaysia boleh.

[taysooheetaysoohee]

If he is not in politics, Malaysia will not have devalue Malaysia Ringgit which he had amass huge amount in foreign exchange due to inside information.

[estees]

Indeed he is one of the richest man in Asia, heard that in the late nineties during the Asia financial turmoil

[hplian]

That's why Singapore dollar is 3.5 times higher against the ringgit. While Singapore has zero natural resources, much smaller land area. Country with good governance and managed by highly skilled and professional human resources is more important than the natural resources.

[ChuanTeh]

If this as a minister so super rich what about his boss who have been fighting for the poor malays until his children's become multi millionaire and billionaire 😅😅

[SangAyie]

People always fascinated with rich people story. Next we want to hear about how Lim Goh Tong acquired the genting mountain.

[vincentjimmy]

What kind of business can be really rich beside of songlap business?

[yapcheeseng]

If he is clean then no need to sue macc to stop investigation la

[TubersAndPotatoes]

Mukesh Ambani (India) is worth almost USD$100 billion, is the richest in Asia.

A powerful cronny of Mahathir, Taib Mahmud (Sarawak), current Governor of Sarawak who plundered Sarawak's wealth over a span of 33 years is estimated to have accumulated around USD$20 billion.

So, just imagine how much Daim and Mahathir are actually worth.

[jayZHTMM]

Bring back the money and share among all Malaysians 🤩