Weststar, the Malaysian company that has emerged as the saviour of LDV, the troubled van maker, may be little known in the UK. But it is almost as obscure in Malaysia.

When Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim, Weststar’s main shareholder and managing director, suddenly emerged at the centre of controversy over lucrative car import licences in 2005, several leading Malaysian newspapers mistakenly published the picture of another man, so low was his public profile.