Bank Negara gambled RM700 billion a month playing the forex market
So there you have it. The Governor was kept in the dark. Nor Mohamed managed the operation and reported directly to the Finance Minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin, and Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The real losses were more than US$13 billion or RM130 billion at today’s value. The monthly turnover was RM700 billion, while the total forward position was US$150 billion.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Finally, 24 years after Lim Kit Siang first raised this matter in Parliament and demanded for an investigation, tomorrow the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) will be investigating how and why Bank Negara lost US$10 billion gambling on the forex market.
As they say, justice may be delayed but it can never be denied. Even Galileo Galilei was pardoned by the church almost 340 years after he died and 346 years after he was excommunicated. And Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad may finally receive his justice as well, almost 30 years after he first exposed Malaysia to bankruptcy.
Lim Kit Siang wanted the RCI to be set up and for Mahathir to be punished and now he is getting his wish
Actually, the real loss that Bank Negara suffered was more than US$13 billion and not just US$10 billion. So that would come to US$30 billion today or about RM130 billion at today’s value. So to say Malaysia lost ‘just’ RM30 billion is not quite accurate. That is RM100 billion less than the RM130 billion that the country lost in real terms.
More importantly, Bank Negara was gambling at the rate of RM700 billion a month and the total forward position was US$150 billion. And considering Malaysia’s reserves at that time was only US$20 billion, those figures are crazy and the criminal should be shot, like what they would do in China.
Nor Mohamed Yakcop managed the operation hut Jaafar Hussein was made the kambing hitam
The man behind the entire operation was Nor Mohamed Yakcop and even Jaafar Hussein, Bank Negara’s Governor at that time, was kept in the dark. But then Jaafar was made the kambing hitam (sacrificial lamb) and even Kit Siang told Parliament that Jaafar should have been given a medal instead of punished for a crime he never committed.
So there you have it. The Governor was kept in the dark. Nor Mohamed managed the operation and reported directly to the Finance Minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin, and Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The real losses were more than US$13 billion or RM130 billion at today’s value. The monthly turnover was RM700 billion while the total forward position was US$150 billion.
These three are going to get hanged for the crime that they pinned on others
Now you know why Mahathir went to court and tried to delay the RCI just like how Anwar Ibrahim delayed his ‘Sodomy 2’ trial for seven years. Mahathir was hoping if he can delay the RCI also by seven years then he would be 100 years old and most likely dead by the time the RCI sits. Hence it does not matter what they discover.
But the court rejected Mahathir’s application and tomorrow the RCI is going to sit. Then Malaysians are going to discover that Mahathir brought Malaysia to the brink just like what happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And to cover this disaster they sold Malaysian Airlines at a huge ‘profit’ and bankrupted Malaysia’s national airlines as well. It was, as the Chinese say, digging a hole to cover another hole.
And this is what the RCI is going to find out — how Pakatan Harapan’s ‘Top Dog’ practically bankrupted Malaysia because he wanted to teach the West a lesson they will never forget. And all it took was one man, George Soros, to teach Mahathir a lesson instead and in just two weeks Malaysia lost more than US$13 billion. But then is the entire US$13 billion due to gambling losses or is a part of it money syphoned out the ‘back door’?
