The self-styled leader of the Federal Special Forces of Malaysia Nor Azami Ahmad Ghazali may not just face investigations for leading a shadowy paramilitary movement which reportedly command 8,000 members.

The police may also start a probe over his business ventures, especially one involving a Taiwanese compact disc maker which had accused him of using Umno's - and the government's name - to clinch a RM3.9 million deal for the delivery of five million pieces of blank CDs.

Malaysiakini reported in 2001 that the Taiwanese company, Gengo International Co Ltd, tried to recoup US$5.4 million (RM20.5 million) from Nor Azami's company, Nor Azami Bersatu Teguh (NABT), for failing to pay for the CDs.

The amount Gengo sought was calculated from the penalty agreed by the companies in their agreements in the event of default in payments - the original sum of RM3.9 million plus subsequent penalties.

Report unnecessary

Gengo general manager Hsu Yuan-Chang told malaysiakini then that his company supplied the orders to NABT, a construction company, through First Choice Partners (M) Sdn Bhd.

Hsu said that he was given the impression by the two Malaysian companies that NABT was acting on behalf of "the ruling party and represented Malaysian government", and thus considered trustworthy

Subsequently, Gengo apologised to Umno and the government after it was informed by a government agency that neither the party nor the government was involved in the deal.

Berita Harian today quoted a Bukit Aman commercial crimes division officer as saying that the police will look into this matter based on the malaysiakini report if a police report is lodged.

"Bukit Aman have not received any reports on this matter. We suggest the involved parties to immediately lodge a report so that we can start investigations," said the unnamed officer.

Gengo was not available for comments.

However, other informed sources say that the police can start their investigations even without any reports.

Members under arrest

Nor Azami, the self-proclaimed Lt Jeneral of FSFM, was detained last Wednesday for setting up the movement and selling fake military uniforms and ranks.

His arrest came in the wake of a raid at the 'special forces' headquarters in Jalan Pantai Dalam, Kuala Lumpur.

In the raid, the police seized an assortment of weapons, uniforms, computers and documents. They also took away application forms, credit card-type authority cards and identification tags.

The authority and identity cards are said to be of a high quality and give the impression that the owner is linked to the Prime Minister's Department.

The police also discovered later that the 35-year-old Nor Azami has described himself as someone who would lead the nation as the sixth prime minister.

The police are also in the lookout for the commanders of the operation and to date more than 800 people, including a high ranking government official, have surrendered to the police nationwide.

Those held include a woman with the rank of a kolonel and three other men who held the ranks of brigadier-jeneral, mejar-jeneral and mejar.

Media reports say that Nor Azami had convinced about 8,000 people to join FSFM. These people have paid between RM8,000 and RM25,000 to buy ranks.

Investigations revealed that Nor Azami could have raked in about RM64 million from the sale of the military ranks.