Ex-Minister complicit in BNM losses: Anwar

Kuala Lumpur: The huge losses suffered by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) as a result of its venture into the foreign exchange market in the 1990s should be subjected to a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI), said Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar, who is PKR de facto leader, said he would be willing to assist the RCI if it was established, but he would not be aiding the government's task force set up to probe the issue.

Anwar, who was Finance minister from 1991 to 1998, said an ex-senior Bank Negara official, who later became a Minister, was complicit in the affair.

Anwar, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a court case, claimed that others, such as former Bank Negara governors Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz and Tan Sri Ahmad Mohd Don, could also assist investigations.

Anwar said he has asked for the resignation of the ex-Bank Negara official in question, but he wasn't allowed to do so.

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He claimed that Tan Sri Jaffar Hussein, who was Bank Negara governor from 1985 to 1994, had taken the rap for the forex losses.

Anwar urged the government to speed up the formation of the commission. Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had previously said that he welcomed the move to set up an RCI on the matter, provided that the government also form an RCI on the RM2.6 billion political donation issue.

The cabinet had on Feb 15 agreed to set up a special task force to conduct a probe into the losses suffered by Bank Negara due to foreign exchange trading in the 1990s.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister's Office announced that former Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, has been appointed as the task force chairman.

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The task force will aim to unearth the extent of the information cover-up on the losses and the possibility of misleading statements on the matter delivered during parliamentary sittings, as well as suggest follow-up actions to the government, including a Royal Commission of Inquiry, if necessary. The forex scandal made headlines after the New Straits Times published an interview with former Bank Negara assistant governor, Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid who claimed BNM has suffered foreign exchange losses of US$10 billion in the early 1990s.

Just a few days prior, the media reported about the declassified United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) papers on the BMF scandal. Dr Mahathir has since downplayed the report, saying that it did not directly link him to the scandal, and was merely a normal information paper for the US government back then.

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