AP Photo/Vincent Thian
Eric Chia

Eric Chia

Former Malaysian steel tycoon Eric Chia dies at 75

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Eric Chia, a former steel tycoon with high political connections who was acquitted last year in Malaysia's biggest financial scandal, died Tuesday, news reports said. He was 75.

Chia died after developing breathing difficulties, The Star newspaper said on its Web site.
The Star said he died at a hospital but national news agency Bernam said he died at his private room in a hotel that he owned. The contradictory reports could not be immediately reconciled, and Chia's family members could not immediately be reached for comment.

Chia, who had close ties to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government in the 1990s, is one of the few high-profile figures to have been charged in court for graft since current Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took office in October 2003 and pledged to fix Malaysia's reputation for corruption and cronyism.

Chia was the managing director of Malaysia's top government-controlled steel company, Perwaja Steel Sdn. Bhd., when it teetered near collapse more than a decade ago under debts and losses exceeding 10 billion ringgit ($3 billion). He was charged with criminal breach of trust in February 2004 for allegedly misappropriating 76.4 million ringgit ($22 million) from Perwaja.

But he was acquitted on June 26, 2007, when the trial judge ruled that government prosecutors failed to mount sufficient evidence against him. Chia, who had attended the trial in a wheelchair, had dismissed the acquittal as a hollow victory, saying his reputation had already been tarnished.