Panama Papers: Government will only act if there is evidence of wrongdoing by Malaysians, says Nazri

The government will only act against Malaysians named in the so-called Panama Papers if there is clear evidence of their wrongdoing, said Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.

He said action would be taken if it was proven that they were "doing things against the law" such as tax evasion.

"If they evade tax, (we) must do something," he told a press coference after performing the ground-breaking ceremony of Double Tree by Hilton at i-City here today.

According to media reports, the Panama Papers information leak involved over 11.5 million confidential documents created by Panamanian corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca.

The documents provided detailed information on more than 214,000 offshore companies, the names of their shareholders as well as their directors, who included government leaders, their close associates and relatives.

Those named in the Panama Papers include individuals from Malaysia, Brazil, China, France, India, Pakistan, the UK, South Africa, Spain, Syria, Russia, Mexico, Argentina and Ukraine.

On allegations that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was using the foreign media to bring down Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and the government, Mohamed Nazri said he would not succeed.

"We all know that there were so many documentaries made about Malaysia during his (Mahathir's) time ...

"He knew that the foreign media could do nothing to him, and now I am telling him, the foreign media can do nothing to us," Mohamed Nazri said when commenting on Dr Mahathir's interview with the 'Four Corners' programme of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

He said the former prime minister who used to crack down on street protesters had been turning up for public demonstrations against Najib.

"My advice to this old man is be patient...2018 will come, then you have your time...you can have a go at us. You want to bring us down, no problem. But to bring down a democratically elected government by undemocratic means is something that cannot be accepted," he said.