PUTRAJAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad this afternoon claimed that he was only briefed in detail about the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) foreign exchange (forex) trading losses months after the matter was tabled to the cabinet in 1993.
In doing so, he denied testimony by former finance minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Clifford Herbert at the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the forex losses.
Anwar and Herbert had both previously stated during testimony at the RCI that Dr Mahathir, who was then prime minister, had been briefed before Anwar had tabled a report on the losses to the cabinet in April 1993.
“In regards to the testimonies of Witness 14 (Herbert) and Witness 21 (Anwar) which stated that they briefed me about the losses, this is true but they only briefed me of the losses months after Witness 21 tabled the losses to the cabinet,” said Dr Mahathir during his much-anticipated testimony at the ongoing RCI.
He went on to say that he was only informed of losses amounting to some RM5.7 billion back in 1993, but had no recollection of the alleged losses of RM31 billion as claimed by former BNM assistant governor Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid.
Dr Mahathir then addressed Herbert’s testimony which stated that he (Dr Mahathir) had said “sometimes we make profits and sometimes we make losses” when briefed of the losses.
“I do not remember exactly what I said, but I might have said that or I might have said ‘sometimes we win, sometimes we lose’. I only said this because (former BNM governor Tan Sri) Jaffar Hussein had already told me of BNM’s forex trading which had in the late 1980s made profits and supplemented the central bank’s reserves.”
Dr Mahathir then defended his decision to appoint Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop as economic adviser to the government, despite allegations that Nor Mohamed was one of the major players behind the 1990s forex scandal.
“The economy was in a challenging position and I needed someone with the know-how to help us weather through it. Nor Mohamed was that person.”
Nor Mohamed resigned from BNM in 1994, but returned in 1998 and served until April 2000. He was then appointed economic adviser to the government (May 2000 to December 2003).
Nor Mohamed is also credited with advising Dr Mahathir to peg the ringgit at RM3.80 to the US dollar during the 1998 Asian financial crisis to prevent further speculation on it.
Dr Mahathir’s written testimony took about an hour to be read out, after which proceedings took a 75-minute lunch break. Proceedings are expected to resume at 2.15pm with cross examination of the former premier. -- Reporting by Lidiana Rosli, Khairah N. Karim and Hana Naz Harun
Read Again Bank Negara Forex RCI: Dr Mahathir denies Anwar, Clifford Herbert's claims : http://ift.tt/2xrGHrTBagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Bank Negara Forex RCI: Dr Mahathir denies Anwar Clifford Herbert's claims"
Post a Comment