Police record statement from Dr Mahathir over forex losses

(The Star) – Police have arrived at Perdana Leadership Foundation to record a statement from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad over the foreign exchange losses suffered by Bank Negara in the 1990s.

Six officers, believed to be from Bukit Aman’s Commercial Crimes Department, arrived at the Foundation here at 1.40pm Wednesday.

The former prime minister’s lawyer, Mohamed Khatira Abdulla, was seen entering the premises at 1.05pm.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI), which was set up to look into the losses had lodged a police report on Nov 30, calling for investigations to determine whether criminal breach of trust, fraud and cheating had been committed with regard to the losses.

In the report, the RCI said that it believed that the then prime minister was aware of the then finance minister’s actions that had caused the central bank to suffer losses amounting to RM31.5 billion. It was also of the opinion that the then finance minister had deliberately been hiding facts and information and made misleading statements to the Cabinet on the matter.

Dr Mahathir was the prime minister at the time while Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was the deputy prime minister and finance minister.