Malaysian businessman says ‘corporate mafia’ exists and police are involved

[KUALA LUMPUR] Victor Chin, a Malaysian businessman under investigation for an alleged scheme to intimidate executives and oust them from companies, outlined the inner workings of a so-called corporate mafia and said those involved work in conjunction with the police as well as the anti-graft agency.

“The corporate mafia is not just about a person or single organisation,” Chin wrote in a statement on Tuesday (Mar 24). “It is a tactic, and it is ongoing. The individuals may change, and the target companies may differ, but the method remains the same in each corporate attack.”

Chin has issued several statements defending himself since his properties were raided this month in relation to the probe against him, which came after a Bloomberg News report in February. The article contained allegations that a group of businessmen nicknamed the corporate mafia, which included Chin, colluded with Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officials to take over companies. Both Chin and the MACC strongly denied the allegations.

In his statement on Tuesday, titled “I know who the real Corporate Mafia is,” Chin said he was also a victim during his time as chief operating officer of NexG, a position he held until his resignation last September. When the tactic was used against him, it involved an anti-money laundering unit of Malaysia’s police, he added.

Chin referred in the statement to events at NexG, a provider of identification systems. He referenced a report earlier this month by local media outlet the Edge, which cited the chairman of NexG as saying two men were behind an attempt to subcontract the company’s government contracts to other parties.

Abu Hanifah Noordin, the chairman of NexG, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

According to Chin, the Royal Malaysia Police’s anti-money laundering special task force was “used as a tool by the Corporate Mafia gang.” The tactics began in October after NexG secured about US$634 million worth of contracts to supply Malaysian passports and identity cards in 2025, he said.  

Representatives for the Royal Malaysia Police didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Bloomberg’s report on alleged collusion between businessmen and anti-graft agency officials has triggered a public outcry in Malaysia. Anthony Loke, secretary-general of the Democratic Action Party, the largest grouping in Anwar’s ruling coalition, said on a podcast this month that his party had tried and failed to persuade Malaysia’s Cabinet to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the allegations in Bloomberg’s report. Chin has also supported those calls.  

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Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said that Malaysia’s Cabinet had ordered police and other agencies, including the MACC, to investigate alleged “corporate manipulation.” Earlier this month, police and Securities Commission officials seized vehicles and other items in a raid on Chin’s residence and other premises. 

In a separate statement earlier this month, Chin said any probe must also include the role of the MACC and the police.

“I will not allow them make me a scapegoat as this is unfair to me,” he said. BLOOMBERG