RPK: Anwar responsible in forex losses scandal
A 1994 speech by the DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang accused Anwar of misleading Parliament and the nation over the RM30 billion losses.
(Free Malaysia Today) – Raja Petra Kamarudin today revealed that DAP stalwart, Lim Kit Siang, had once held Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim responsible for Bank Negara’s RM30 billion forex losses scandal.
His latest blog post shows a speech made by Lim, the then DAP secretary-general and Tanjong MP, in Parliament on the Royal Address debate on April 11, 1994.
Lim had stated that the “colossal” forex losses between 1992 and 1994 had not only made the national bank insolvent but also destroyed its credibility and authority as the “banker” and guardian of banks in Malaysia.
He had then gone on to accuse Anwar, who was the Finance Minister at the time, of misleading Parliament in July 1993 by claiming that Bank Negara had not been suffering more forex losses as he had been monitoring its forex dealings weekly.
“Anwar Ibrahim said last week (April 4, 1994) that he had directed Bank Negara to stop forward foreign exchange trading when he discovered its forex losses 18 months ago,” Lim had said.
“If Bank Negara had followed his instructions to stop forward forex trading in 1992, then how could Bank Negara suffer RM5.7 billion losses in 1993, on top of the RM10.1 billion to RM13.1 billion losses in 1992?”
Lim, who is the current Ipoh Timor MP, had also called on Anwar to furnish Parliament with the size and details of all Bank Negara’s foreign exchange losses.
