The Bank Negara RM30 billion Forex losses scandal
SeaDemon Says
Kit Siang also published a book on the BNM Forex losses scandal
Yes. The year was 1994 when Lim Kit Siang found it ultra-important to publish a book on the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) foreign exchange scandal that caused the loss of RM30 billion (estimated to be at RM49 billion in today’s terms).
The book is called, as you would have guessed, ‘The Bank Negara RM30 Billion Forex Losses Scandal‘.
The BNM forex scandal losses in 1991 made international headlines at the time, forcing the resignation of BNM’s governor Jaffar Hussein.
Again I should thank Kit Siang for writing all this, making it easier for me to see what he had written on the issues he raised in the past.
In 2004, Kit Siang called upon Nor Mohamed Yackop who then was sworn in as a Senator to become Finance Minister II to issue a White Paper on the matter.
“Up to now, the government has failed to “come clean” on the colossal Bank Negara forex losses as a result of speculation in the international currency markets from 1992-1994, with the losses cited as ranging from RM10 billion to RM30 billion. In Parliament in 1994, I had given reasons as to why the Bank Negara’s forex losses as a result of its forex speculation operations could have amounted to as high as RM30 billion, which had not been seriously rebutted by any top government leader or Bank Negara official,” he wrote on his blog limkitsiang.com.
In April 1991, a Reuter news agency report from London described Bank Negara as “a dominant force on the foreign exchange scene for some years” and it was accused by some forex operators as “a market bully”.
The 1991 Reuter report states:
“Over the past two years it has stepped up its trading volume, and this year it has started dealing in what dealer described as ‘really massive amounts’…
“Typically, Bank Negara operates in US$50 million lots, compared with the market norm of US$5 million or US$10 million and deals with maybe six major banks in Europe and six in New York, dealers said.
“One trader said the only dealers rivaling Bank Negara would be the Japanese funds. But while these funds enter the market no more than once or twice a year, Bank Negara is coming in and doing yards (billions) of dollars a day.
“”Its recent technique has been to hit major banks for US50 million each, then his them 10 minutes later, dealers said.
“Then it changes centre, and does it all over again.”
