RCI on BNM forex scandal summary for Monday 21st Aug 2017
(LSS) – 1. Mahathir’s lawyer made a lot of noise asking the RCI panel for documents today so that they do not need to interrupt the RCI panel tomorrow. The demand was denied, which made him even more insistent. He was then asked to sit down.
Again, Mahathir’s lawyer buat hal.
2. Former Bank Negara assistant governor Abdul Murad Khalid revealed that Anwar said that if the real losses was revealed to public, he would have to resign as Finance Minister. This suggested that there was an attempt to hide the truth.
3. Testimony from various witnesses including Murad, former Bank Negara staff Abdul Aziz Abdul, and former Bank Negara internal auditor Ahmad Hizzad Baharuddin, reveal that the losses amount to at least RM31.5 billion.
4. It was revealed by Aziz that the loss was only reported to the Bank Negara’s board of governors and not revealed in the BNM official reports and balance sheet – suggesting another attempt to hide the truth.
5. BNM had wanted a closed-door hearing because several of the reports on the BNM forex losses were classified as OSA by Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s and Anwar Ibrahim’s government – suggesting another attempt to cover-up.
However, the RCI declined the request and said the findings on those OSA documents will be made public in the hearings.
6. The RCI panel concluded in their day’s summary that the losses were at least RM31.5 billion. This figure is almost one quarter of Malaysia’s entire GDP of RM135 billion in 1991 – which is really unimaginable in terms of the scale.
However, Mahathir’s lawyer again protested at this end-of-day summary saying that it is still too early to conclude.
Mahathir’s lawyer buat hal lagi.
Other than being disruptive in the RCI hearings, Mahathir’s lawyers have tried to suspend the hearings multiple times already using the courts.
What is there to hide from Mr Everything2Hide?
On top of finding how it happened and who allowed it to happen, the RCI will also find out who was responsible for the cover-up to Parliament, to the Cabinet and to the public.
That’s it for today.
