Umno Youth wants RCI on Mahathir-era forex scandal

Umno Youth wants the government to set up a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to probe Bank Negara's losses in the foreign exchange market in 1991, when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was still the prime minister.

Umno Youth vice-chief Khairul Azwan Harun claimed that the central bank had lost US$180 billion from forex trading exposures and forex trading losses, and had gone bankrupt.

"Umno Youth urges the government to set up an RCI immediately to probe and confirm that the central bank had gone bankrupt in 1991, and investigate and confirm that there was an effort to cover up the fact that there were US$150 billion (in losses from) forex trading exposures, and a forex trading loss exceeding US$30 billion," Azwan said.

"We believe that if an RCI is established immediately, it can unravel what was said by (former Bank Negara Malaysia assistant governor) Abdul Murad (Khalid)," he added.

He was speaking at a press conference at the Umno Youth office at Menara Dato Onn in Kuala Lumpur today.

It is unclear where Azwan had gotten the figures from.

Abdul Murad had in an interview with Utusan Malaysia and New Strait Times claimed that the central bank lost US$10 billion in the foreign exchange market, much higher than the RM9 billion figure it once admitted to.

There was no mention of bankruptcy or US$180 billion in losses.

However, Utusan did publish a report yesterday which cited a 2012 article by retired Bank Negara deputy manager Rosli Yaakop, who said experts estimated the losses suffered by the central bank meant it had put in between between US$22-33 billion in the forex market.

Meanwhile DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang had published a book about the forex scandal in 1994, claiming Bank Negara had made a forex loss of RM30 billion, and not the US$30 billion as cited by Azwan.-Mkini