BMF scandal: Other reports say I wasn’t involved, says Dr M

Former prime minister says he was demonised by the foreign media when he was in office and accused of things he did not do.

PUTRAJAYA: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad responded to questions about CIA papers on the BMF scandal, saying “other reports” on the matter showed he wasn’t involved in it.

Yesterday, The Asian Correspondent reported that documents released by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) questioned the Mahathir administration’s response in dealing with the BMF scandal, resulting in losses of some US$1 billion.

“There are other reports beyond the CIA which say I am not involved. Foreign newspapers attacked me because I would not stop criticising them when they do wrong, so they must demonise me,” he said adding he would be accused of doing something he didn’t do.

When asked if he was suggesting that everything reported by the CIA was not true, Mahathir said: “This thing happened way back in 1981 until 1984, why are you bringing it up now? Can you correct anything I’ve done before.”

“The purpose is political, maybe some people will benefit from it. There are other reports which are different from the CIA report. Read those reports too.”

Yesterday, minister in the prime minister’s department Abdul Rahman Dahlan – a vocal Mahathir critic – said many stories on the BMF scandal had already been reported.

He said now that the CIA’s documents were publicly available, everyone could make their own conclusions.

“We’ll wait and see. We’ll look at these documents and if there are questions to be asked, then they have to be directed at Mahathir,” said Rahman.

The BMF scandal made the headlines in the early eighties, after it was revealed that the bank’s Hong Kong-based subsidiary had provided “bad” loans to several shady companies, including units of Carrian Holdings Ltd, a conglomerate led by George Tan.

Hundreds of millions of dollars were lost overnight when the Carrian group collapsed in 1983, in Hong Kong’s largest bankruptcy. A Bank Bumiputra auditor checking on the scandal was murdered, and the government pumped in billions of ringgit to support Bank Bumiputra.

A royal commission of inquiry set up to probe the scandal ended without prosecutions. BMF chairman Lorrain Esme Osman lived in exile until his death in London in 2011. -FMT