In a filing with the stock exchange, Opcom said the disposal was made through two direct business transactions on Feb 10.

Mukhriz’s wife, Norzieta Zakaria, has also ceased to be a substantial shareholder in Opcom after Norzieta’s company, M Ocean Capital Sdn Bhd, disposed of 18 million shares through the open market on Wednesday.

Opcom Holdings, a manufacturer of optical fibre cables, was the centre of controversy in September 2019 over claims that the company would stand to benefit from a national plan to lay optical fibre cables across the country for Internet connections at much faster speeds.

The national fiberisation plan was announced in August that year by the Pakatan Harapan government, headed by Mukhriz’s father Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister.

Mukhriz is a co-founder of the company and was its president until 2009 and held a substantial stake in the company at the time, while his elder brother Mokhzani was chairman until May 2019.

In May last year, Opcom issued a statement to say it was not involved in the national fiberisation plans as it did not possess the necessary licences to qualify as a participant in tenders for the contract.

The share price of Opcom Holdings closed at RM0.77 today, up one sen.