While Anwar Ibrahim pursues Daim and Mahathir, Vincent Tan's "brother" Andy Lau co-stars in a new movie based on George Tan and the Carrian collapse

 by Ganesh Sahathevan

             

Screendaily has just reported:

(Andy Lau ad Tony Leung)  are adversaries once again in The Goldfinger. Inspired by true events and set during the 1980’s, Leung plays Chinese businessman Ching Yat Yin who goes from rags to billion-dollar riches as the chairman of the Carmen Group. Lau plays senior corruption investigator Lau Kai Yuen, who launches a relentless search for the truth behind the wealth of the company – a pursuit that spans 15 years. The story is understood to be inspired by the fall of Hong Kong conglomerate the Carrian Group.    

 

 

The collapse of the Carrian Group

concerns former Prime Minister Mahathir and the ruling UMNO. In 2017 Todayonline reported:

 

 The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has claimed the Mahathir administration was involved in the Bumiputera Malaysia Finance Limited (BMF) scandal that the country cost billions in the 1980s.

The conclusion was contained in a report that was part of a trove of 13 million pages from 800,000 of the agency’s files that were declassified and released online last week.

In the report’s summary, it said that Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s position as prime minister then was at risk due to the graft scandal, as the Malaysian government-owned Bank Bumiputera’s (Bank Bumi) reputation was marred by the “questionable” operations of the BMF, its wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary.

“Circumstantial evidence suggests that the scandal extends into the Mahathir administration. As a government-owned bank, Bank Bumi is closely monitored by both the Finance Ministry and Central Bank and no important decisions are made without their agreement of knowledge,” the nine-page report titled “The Bank Bumiputera Scandal: More Trouble Ahead for Malaysia’s Mahathir?”

 

That this movie is being released at a time when current Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is pursuing former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin for corruption, and by extension Mahathir and anyone connected to them, is intriguing.

 

That Andy Lau and Vincent Tan Chee Yioun are closely linked adds to the intrigue given Daim and Vincent’s reported financial leaks.

Producer Felix Ching has issued the standard "pure ficton disclaimer but speculation is obviously not confined to social media.

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