The web of corporate mafia connecting heads of government agencies and cronies of powerful politicians is obvious.
The high-stakes corporate confrontation between two of Anwar’s cronies over NexG, the government’s primary technology solutions provider, is an upgraded version of crony capitalism practised in the 1990s, when Anwar was walking the corridors of power. The disgusting enrichment project has become pathetic now, as it involves Anwar’s ex-political secretary (66-year-old Ishak) and ex-political aide (43-year-old Farhash).
The scheme is the same – cronyism and nepotism. The game plan remains the same – to enrich close friends. The actors are the same – Anwar’s crooked associates. The only difference is that the finance minister today does not do the dirty jobs himself but has outsourced them to the corrupt Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Royal Malaysian Police.
Ishak Ismail, a well-known white-collar crook linked to “pump and dump” stocks like Aokam in the 1990s and fought for control of fast-food company KFC Holdings Bhd in 2004 before emerging as a major shareholder in Kenmark Industrial Co in 2010, also had stakes in Parit Perak Bhd, the Malaysian operations of hypermarket chain Carrefour (which had since sold to Aeon).
First reported by Singapore Channel News Asia (CNA), Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was forced to intervene just hours after NexG founder Abu Hanifah Noordin made allegations of abuse of power at the government tech provider. And shortly after the PM’s intervention, six NexG board directors aligned to Farhash resigned en masse on Mar 11, 2026. But the dispute has opened a can of worms.
Abu Hanifah, a businessman who previously enjoyed close ties to former premier Muhyiddin Yassin, claimed that several former directors, independent directors and key management officers were “forced to leave their positions under circumstances that raised serious concerns with the company”. This is precisely how Daim’s boys forcefully took over Anwar’s boys’ companies after Anwar lost power in 1998 (read: From Crony Capitalism to Corporate Mafia – NexG Saga (Part 1))
“I was made aware that representations and threats had allegedly been made to certain individuals that they could face investigations by the authorities, including potential PDRM (Police Di-Raja Malaysia) and AMLA-related actions, should they refuse to step down,” – Abu Hanifah said, referring to the Malaysian police and alleged anti-money laundering offences. This lends credence to Bloomberg’s report about the practice of corporate mafia.
NexG, formerly known as Datasonic Group, became a cash cow after it was awarded lucrative government projects – central to the country’s border-security systems, supplying smart identification cards, passport chips and high-security personalisation solutions. Datasonic underwent numerous shareholding changes and was rebranded as NexG in February last year.
It soon attracted attention – and a power struggle – from various corporate personalities for obvious reasons. One of them was Victor Chin Boon Long, a businessman whose publicly listed companies cut across different sectors from moneylending to logistics, and include entities such as Velocity Capital, MMAG Holdings, Hong Seng Consolidated, NexG, Green Packet and Revenue Group.
After Farhash, PM Anwar’s former political aide-turned-business crony, suddenly emerged as a substantial shareholder – 19.9% (462 million shares) worth about RM184.8 million – in MMAG Holdings Bhd in March 2025, he was appointed chairman of the company. At that time, Farhash already held directorships in four other public-listed companies, namely Apex Equity, Excel Force, 7-Eleven and Key Alliance Group.
His sudden rise in the corporate world has raised eyebrows, even suspicions, especially after emerging as a substantial shareholder in HeiTech Padu Bhd – shortly before the company secured a RM190 million contract from the Ministry of Transport. This had led to criticism that HeiTech won the contract due to Farhash’s ties with Anwar, despite Transport Minister Anthony Loke’s denials (now we know why DAP Loke closed one eye over the scandal).
In a Bloomberg report dated Feb 12, 2026, Victor Chin was identified as one of the players in a new explosive scandal known as the “corporate mafia” – detailing how the MACC under leadership of Azam Baki is assisting rogue businessmen in forcefully taking over public listed companies by using the anti-graft agency’s extensive powers to arrest, intimidate and threaten charges against company founders and executives.
While Farhash does not hold any equity in NexG, he has a 20% interest in MMAG (March 2025), a publicly listed logistics firm in which NexG itself owns a 10% stake. Trying to safeguard his interests, Chin brought Farhash into his corporate network a year ago, but their relationship did not work due to greed and clashes in control of NexG. Farhash was seeking more direct equity interest in NexG, which Chin disagreed.
Around mid-2025, NexG had secured several new and extended government contracts – an 18-month extension from the Home Ministry for foreign worker cards, a six-year contract to supply Malaysian passports and identity cards, and expanded work producing driving licence cards for the Road Transport Department. Fighting a losing battle against PM’s top crony, Victor Chin was forced to sell his stake in NexG.
It was against this backdrop that Ishak entered the picture. A former aggressive corporate player in takeovers of publicly listed companies in the 1990s, Ishak grabbed a 25% interest in NexG controlled by Chin in a deal valued at about RM300 million in mid-November 2025. Chin resigned as Chief Operating Officer of NexG, but an upset Farhash started hostile resistance to seize control of NexG.
Farhash’s fingerprints are everywhere when Chong Loong Men, a former prosecutor and Securities Commission officer named in a Bloomberg report as one of the players in the corporate mafia, was part of the newly appointed directors entrusted to represent Farhash’s interest in NexG. Using a backdoor, insiders say Farhash and his proxies can control the company by appointing directors to the NexG board.
Even more interesting was the fact that one of Farhash’s new directors involved in the coup to control NexG was accountant Kunal Tayal, an Indian national closely tied to businessman Aminul Islam Abdul Nor. A former Bangladeshi national who was granted Malaysian citizenship, Aminul is the Big Boss of Bestinet, a notorious major player in Malaysia’s lucrative foreign labour recruitment business.
Bestinet developed software to digitise Malaysia’s paper-based recruitment. In reality, however, even some government officials suspected Aminul (a.k.a. Amin) of exploiting migrant workers at best, and human trafficking at worst. In the past 10 years, companies Amin founded have generated more than US$100 million (RM400 million) in profit, filings show.
Aminul Islam even allied with an influential politician, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (current deputy prime minister). In 2015, when Malaysia adopted Bestinet’s system, Zahid was the home affairs minister, overseeing immigration. That year, Zahid announced Malaysia would bring in as many as 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers, and the exercise of milking the cash cow began.
In late 2023, the cabinet under the new Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim – supposedly a reformist – decided to cut ties after Bestinet’s contract expired the following year. Yet, mysteriously, after Amin “engaged” top officials to lobby Anwar to extend Bestinet’s term, Anwar made a surprise announcement at the end of a cabinet meeting in early 2024 – Bestinet would get an extension. Again, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) kept quiet.
As Farhash’s directors began intervening directly in company operations, ties with NexG founder Abu Hanifah grew increasingly strained. The confrontation reached a climax when NexG announced a temporary suspension of Abu Hanifah’s executive powers as executive chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), effective March 5, 2026. Hanifah decided to retaliate, putting pressure on PM Anwar.
“I was protecting the company from being robbed in daylight of certain core technologies,” said Abu Hanifah. He also publicly exposed how his power was suspended for rejecting an evil plan which involved subcontracting NexG’s expertise to third parties – competitor HeiTech Padu – which was a company listed on Bursa Malaysia and associated with Farhash.
Amusingly, just one day after Abu Hanifah’s retaliation, NexG, under the control of Farhash’s cronies, chickened out and announced that it had reinstated Hanifah’s executive powers. Of course, the hidden mastermind – Farhash Wafa Salvador – has denied any involvement in NexG’s boardroom tussle. But the damage is done despite PM Anwar’s intervention to avoid another high-profile corporate scandal.
Anwar’s refusal to set up a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to uncover the truth after the damaging Bloomberg report of corporate mafia involving the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has not only failed to sweep the scandal under the carpet but has backfired. Victor Chin Boon Long has denied being part of the “corporate mafia” but admitted the existence of the mafia group.
Clearly, in a desperate attempt to protect the “corporate mafia” and the MACC, the disgraced Anwar government appears to have weaponised the Royal Malaysia Police and Securities Commission in conducting raids on companies and residences, as well as freezing more than 500 stockbroking and bank accounts linked to Victor Chin – most likely to make him the scapegoat.
Victor Chin, currently abroad, has threatened to expose everything if the authorities continue to pressure him and harass his family. But it’s not hard to connect the dots. It was not a coincidence that MACC Chief Commissioner Azam Baki was caught possessing wealth beyond his means – owning shares worth a whopping RM14 million in nine companies, including Excel Force and Velocity Capital, valued at roughly RM800,000. Both companies were linked to Farhash.
The web of corporate mafia connecting heads of government agencies and cronies of powerful politicians is so obvious as can be seen when former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Razarudin Husain was appointed as executive chairman of NexG Bina (a subsidiary of NexG) last year. PM Anwar is stupider than he looks if he thinks targeting Victor Chin, while protecting Azam, could divert attention from his crony capitalism. – Finance Twitter
Earlier report:
Mar 19, From crony capitalism to corporate mafia – NextG saga