Then Governor unaware of losses suffered

Putra Jaya: The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) investigating the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) foreign exchange losses in the early 1990's heard that then BNM governor Tan Sri Jaffar Hussein was initially unaware of how big were the losses suffered by the central bank.Former special assistant to Jaffar, Lee Siew Kuan, 86, who was hired by the central bank to clear up the scandals involving about 20 deposit-taking cooperatives at the time, said Jaffar had requested him to look into BNM's accounts.

"Subsequently, I checked with the Accounts Department and was told by the accountant whose name I can't remember, informing me that there were big losses suffered by BNM in the forex transactions," he said.

Lee said he immediately informed the governor about the huge losses suffered by BNM but he (Jaffar) did not believe me and said the losses could not be that much.

"The governor asked me to take a second look at the accounts which I did. After taking a second look at the accounts, I met and informed then BNM deputy governor Tan Sri Dr Lin See Yan about the huge losses suffered by BNM in the forex transactions amounting to about RM8 billion to RM9 billion," he recalled.

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The eleventh witness in the RCI proceeding said Lin and he later went to brief Jaffar.

"This time, Jaffar accepted the losses. Jaffar did not say anything but looked worried and shocked," he said.

Lee said he was unable to say who was responsible for the forex losses in the years from 1990 to 1993 because he did not have the facts. He said the BNM Accounts Department did not submit monthly reports on the forex transactions done by the Banking Department to him in his capacity as special assistant to the BNM governor from 1990 to 1993.

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In his witness statement, Lee said Lin offered him to join BNM as a contract officer which he agreed to and was with BNM for three years.

He said he was appointed special assistant during his tenure to solve the problems and all matters involving over 20 cooperatives. – Bernama

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