PAS Youth demands probe against Dr M for BMF, forex scandals

By MT Webmaster On Jan 29, 2017

(MMO) – PAS Youth has urged authorities to investigate former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad over new allegations against his links to the Bumiputera Malaysia Finance Limited (BMF) and foreign exchange scandals during his premiership.

The wing’s deputy chief Nurul Islam Mohamed Yusoff said the federal government, Bank Negara Malaysia, Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) must immediately act on the information that has resurfaced recently.

“The government, BNM, PDRM and the MACC must expose and dig deeply the BMF and forex 1992 scandals so that justice will prevail.

“More importantly, there is a need for authorities to investigate claims by the former Bank Negara assistant governor, Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid, that no probe was made at that time despite the size of the losses, US$10 billion (RM44.3 billion),” Nurul said in a statement yesterday.

The forex scandal made headlines again after state-owned paper New Straits Times published an interview with Abdul Murad in which he claimed the central bank 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 which linked his administration to the BMF scandal in the 1980s.

Dr Mahathir has since downplayed the report, saying that it did not directly link himself to the scandal, and was merely a normal information paper for the US government back then.

Nurul said it is the time to remove all the bureaucracy and dictatorship dilemma that beset the authorities and prove the transparency and efficiency of country’s regulatory bodies.

This demand came following a public snub against PAS by Dr Mahathir, who is now the chairman of Umno splinter party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM)

Dr Mahathir had claimed the Opposition did not require PAS’ cooperation and could defeat the Islamist party in multi-cornered contests in the next general election.