Anwar welcomes Najib’s call to revive RM30 bil forex case

Anwar Ibrahim, who was finance minister in the 1990s, has welcomed former prime minister Najib Razak’s call to reopen the files on the RM30 billion Bank Negara foreign exchange scandal of the time.

(FMT) – Anwar said he agreed with Najib’s call, and had no problem with it if the authorities choose to take up the matter.

“They can investigate it, but what’s important is that I didn’t steal a sen, I didn’t take RM1 billion, I didn’t take timber land, I didn’t take stocks. That’s important. So if you want to investigate forex or 1MDB, please go ahead,” he said in a tazkirah (religious reflection) posted on his Facebook page.

Anwar also thanked Najib for the comments made by the former prime minister yesterday, saying that this was the right way of discourse, without any name-calling or insults.

Najib had urged the attorney-general to reopen several cases where charges against Pakatan Harapan leaders had been dropped, as well as the findings of a royal commission of inquiry into the RM30 billion losses suffered by Bank Negara in foreign exchange speculation.

He also challenged PH leaders to support his call for action, saying they had complained about cases being dropped against his stepson Riza Aziz and former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman.

Najib had questioned the authorities’ inaction on the report in January, saying the royal commission was supposed to be the highest investigating body in the country and that its recommendations should be adhered to.

In its 400-page report, the commission blamed former BNM adviser Nor Mohamed Yakcop for the loss of RM31.5 billion which was borne by the central bank in its forex dealings between 1992 and 1994.

It also recommended the police investigate the then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as well as Anwar, BNM’s board of directors, the National Audit Department and the finance ministry.