Kit Siang: If Putrajaya serious about forex probe, sack Nor Yakcop

Khazanah Nasional deputy chairperson Nor Mohamed Yakcop should be sacked or suspended if Putrajaya is serious about investigating Bank Negara's forex losses in the 1990s, Lim Kit Siang said today.

The DAP veteran accused Nor Mohamed of being a key figure in Bank Negara's handling of forex speculation activities, which reportedly amounted to some RM30 billion.

Yesterday, jailed PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, who was finance minister at the material time, also accused Nor Mohamed of complicity in the affair.

"More than 20 years have elapsed, but Nor Mohamed, who was the chief operator in the Bank Negara forex speculation in the early 1990s and the person responsible for Bank Negara's colossal losses, owes it to the nation and Malaysians to make a clean breast of what he did more than two decades ago - and not just to the cabinet special task force," said Lim.

Nor Mohamed served Bank Negara for almost three decades until 1994. He rejoined Bank Negara in 1998 and was appointed finance minister II in 2000 under the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration.

In 2013, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak appointed Nor Mohamed as Khazanah Nasional's deputy chairperson and the head of Khazanah Research Institute.

Yesterday, it was announced that cabinet had appointed former chief secretary to the government Sidek Hassan as the head of a special task force to probe the forex losses.

Last Wednesday, the Prime Minister's Office announced that the special task force would be formed.

Critics, however, believed that this was a political move to divert public attention from the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's involvement in the 1MDB controversy while piling pressure on Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was prime minister when Bank Negara suffered the losses at the forex market.

Lim said he stood by his speech in Parliament in April 1994, where he called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry on Bank Negara's forex losses, and maintained the same treatment be given to 1MDB.

The same sentiment was shared by Anwar yesterday.

Malaysiakini has contacted Nor Mohamed for response.- Mkini