One man in particular, though, fits the description of a crony perfectly: Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary.

ECONOMIST: The big clean-up

Mr al-Bukhary never gives interviews, and shrouds his affairs in secrecy: all his assets are held through complex vehicles.

ECONOMIST: The big clean-up

Mr al-Bukhary, a close friend of the prime minister's, has built an extraordinary empire in a the five years since the crisis, including Malaysia's fast-growing new container port at Tanjung Pelepas, a hotel and property group, Pernas, mining companies, power companies, palm-oil companies and much else, including a controlling stake in the Bakun dam on the island of Borneo.

ECONOMIST: The big clean-up