On 17th November, former CIMB Group Chairperson Tan Sri Mohamed Nazir Razak made headlines for marrying cosmetics founder Yati Zainuddin in a lavish ceremony. While the wedding was a huge affair attended by big names like Capital A chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and even the King and Queen, some were unhappy with the news – particularly the members of Nazir’s family.
Shared through Instagram, Nazir’s daughter, Marissa Nazir, wrote a lengthy post criticising the marriage, alleging that her father had lied to his family to pursue a relationship with his now-wife while he was still married. In the post, Marissa wrote, “I am usually a private person & would not normally speak out on social media but the publicity of my dad’s recent nuptials have pushed my brother Arman & me to our limits. It has hurt us very much to see our mother treated with such callousness and disregard.”
Marissa starts her post by slamming her father for proudly holding a high-profile ceremony just two months after divorcing her mother, Dato’ Azlina Aziz. She revealed that none of her family members were informed about the ceremony and had to find out through guests and social media. In her post, Marissa called the marriage “a union borne out of infidelity and deceit”, revealing that Nazir and Yati have been having an affair for years. Marissa also revealed that Yati was a friend of her mother and that her mother had done many favours for Yati and her siblings, even helping Yati’s brother to land a job at CIMB Bank.
Marrisa’s post revealed that Yati and her father had carried on the affair when her mother was sick during the pandemic, adding that Yati would even stay in her family’s Damansara home when it was unoccupied. She also revealed that her father had repeatedly lied to his family, claiming that he had business to attend to but was secretly meeting up with Yati while Azlina was receiving treatment for her illness. Marissa also said she and her brother were shocked at the lavish wedding, given that her father is late at paying the financial settlement he promised his ex-wife.
The post continues with Marissa calling Nazir’s friends Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Kamal Badawi, son of former premier Abdullah Badawi, saying they had enabled and assisted in her father’s affair with Yati. She also revealed that the two had been borrowing large sums of money from Nazir “on a personal basis”. Marissa’s post ends by sharing how her mother had stuck with Nazir through his bad times, even nursing him when he was diagnosed with cancer and attending lawyer’s meetings when he was investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). She says that despite understanding that the relationship between her father and mother has ended, she and her brother will continue to speak up against any attempts to hurt her mother.
This is what Arman Razak had to say:
Both Nazir Razak and Yati Zainuddin have yet to address these claims from Marissa but many netizens have reacted to the Instagram post, calling Marissa brave for speaking out for her mother. Before his second marriage, Nazir was married to Azlina for over 30 years, since 1992.
