BNM began active forex trading without my knowledge: Dr M

19 Sep 2017 / 09:09 H.

PUTRAJAYA: Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad testified that he was briefed in detail about the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) foreign exchange (forex) trading losses only months after the matter was tabled to the cabinet in 1993.
"Regarding the testimonies of Witness 14 (former Finance Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Clifford Herbert) and Witness 21 (former Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) 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," he said when reading his witness statement during the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the forex losses at the Palace of Justice (PoJ), here, yesterday.
The losses amounting to some RM5.7 billion back in 1993, he said was all that he was informed of, adding that he had no recollection of the alleged losses of RM31 billion as claimed by former BNM assistant governor Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid.
During the RCI sessions earlier, Anwar and Herbert had both stated that Mahathir, who was then prime minister, had been briefed before Anwar had tabled a report on the losses to the cabinet in April 1993.
Mahathir then addressed Herbert's testimony which stated that he (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 probably would have 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 were profitable and increased the central bank's reserves,"he said.
Mahathir also 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 it.
"He (Nor Mohamed) was the one," he added.

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