Dr M loses appeal against forex losses RCI members

Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad today lost his final appeal to challenge the presence of two members on a royal commission of inquiry (above) into Bank Negara's foreign exchange losses in the 1990s.

Mahathir had challenged the presence of the two because he said they had also sat on a 1990s task force into the same matter.

Chief Justice Mohd Raus Sharif who headed a three-member Federal Court bench unanimously dismissed the application with leave to appeal.

"We are of the view there is nothing wrong for members of the task force to also sit on the royal commission of inquiry," he said. The other two judges were Federal Court judges Justice Hasan Lah and Justice Ramly Ali.

Mahathir was represented by lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla.

At the start of the royal commission, Mahathir had sought to apply to remove former chief-secretary to the government Mohd Sidek Hassan and fellow task force member Saw Choo Boon from sitting.

He argued that as the two men had sat on the task force established to probe the same forex losses, their independence was compromised.

However, High Court judge Justice Azizah Nawawi dismissed the application on Aug 17 last year after allowing a preliminary objection from the Attorney-General's Chambers that the commission's decision to have Sidek and Saw as members could not be challenged in court.

The decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal resulting in this appeal today.

Sidek proceeded to head the royal commission which completed its inquuiry and presented its findings to Parliament in November last year.

Mahathir is also challenging the inquiry's findings and has applied for another judge to hear his matter.

Mahathir is seeking a declaration that the RCI's forex losses report was not valid in law and unacceptable as it does not include all the witness statements or testimonies of those who had testified, including the written or oral requests in the form of transcripts or video recordings and the submissions made by the lawyers.

The RCI report had concluded that Bank Negara lost RM31.5 billion due to speculation in the forex market between 1992 and 1994.

Among others, the report blamed Mahathir, his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim and former minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop for the losses. - Mkini