From 1MDB to ‘corporate mafia’: Is Malaysia facing a new governance test?

[KUALA LUMPUR] A decade after the 1MDB scandal shook Malaysia’s institutions, a new controversy is surfacing. This time, the concern is not the misappropriation of billions, but allegations of high-level shadow-play within the country’s corporate giants.

Claims of interference, coupled with mounting scrutiny of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), are unsettling investors and raising a fundamental question: Are the rules of the game being applied fairly?

A different kind of scandal

This current storm was sparked by a Bloomberg News report describing what it termed a “corporate mafia” – a network of businessmen and intermediaries allegedly able to influence, or even seize, control of public-listed companies.