Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has alluded to his corporate past as the reason behind his ownership of luxury watches.

"I mean, why should we monitor (watches owned by politicians)?" Zahid asked during a function in Serdang today.

"Before I joined politics, I was a corporate man," he said, while refusing to comment further on the matter.

Zahid was asked to respond to Malaysian Crime Watch Task Force (MyWatch) chief R Sri Sanjeevan's claim that he and other top politicians were indulging in luxury watches .

Sanjeevan claimed that photographs showed Zahid owning a Richard Mille timepiece worth RM293,000 and an IWC watch worth RM180,000.

When Zahid arrived at the press conference earlier, he asked if anyone wanted to ask about his watches.

"I want to cover (my watch)," he said while taking his seat and promptly pulling his sleeve over his watch.

" Pasal Casio pun nak kecoh (People want to make a fuss about my Casio watch)," he quipped.

No denial

Unlike his colleague Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan, who denied ownership of an RM30,000 Rolex Submariner watch, the minister did not deny he owned the luxurious watches.

According to Zahid's biodata in the Journal of Defence and Security , he began his private sector career as an assistant manager in Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) in 1976.

He rose through the ranks of BSN, and after his foray into politics, became its chairperson in 1994.

In 1987, he became political secretary to Najib Abdul Razak, when the current prime minister was then youth and sports minister.

A Wikipedia entry says Zahid was a banker with OCBC before venturing into politics.

Prior to that, he was a director of Bank Simpanan Nasional and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB).

In 1999 he was made the chairperson of Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd (SPNB).