KUALA LUMPUR (April 16): Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said on Tuesday that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has accused him of abusing power for personal gain.

Mahathir disclosed in an X post that the anti-graft agency had notified his eldest son, Mirzan Mahathir, of an alleged offence under Section 23 of the Act related to report numbered IPJ/RPTNO/0477/2023 committed by Mahathir Mohamad with his identification number also mentioned in the notice.

Section 23 of the MACC Act stipulates that it is an offence to use an office or position for gratification, and a person convicted of such an offence is liable to face a jail term of 20 years and a fine of five times the gratification.

"For what I know, I have never been investigated,” Mahathir said. “Yet, the MACC notice claims I have committed an offence.”

Mahathir's revelation comes after Mirzan and his brother, Tan Sri Mokhzani Mahathir, said that their 98-year-old father was the subject of a MACC probe in a Bloomberg interview on March 23.

In January, Mirzan and Mokhzani were instructed by the MACC to declare their assets dating back to 1981, coinciding with Mahathir's tenure as prime minister. The directive was part of an investigation into offshore business records disclosed by a journalism consortium. However, the MACC did not explicitly mention Mahathir as the main target at the time.

Despite claims by Mirzan and Mokhzani, Tan Sri Azam Baki, the head of the anti-graft agency, said in response that he needed to examine the facts before making any statements during his encounter with reporters in March.

Meanwhile, Mahathir maintained that he had not accumulated billions of ringgit as alleged by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, adding that no evidence has been furnished to back up these claims.

"It's been a year since I sued Anwar, yet he has failed to provide any evidence. This indicates my innocence. If the MACC possesses evidence, they should present it," he said.

Last year, Mahathir filed a lawsuit against Anwar for allegedly defamatory remarks made at the PKR congress in March, where Anwar implied that someone in power for “22 years and 22 months” had accumulated wealth for their family and children.

Mahathir is seeking RM50 million in general damages and another RM100 million in exemplary damages.