MAHATHIR AND DAIM LIED ABOUT THE FOREX LOSSES

Mahathir and Daim lied on two counts when asked about the Bank Negara forex losses. First, in 1993, they denied that Bank Negara lost money and called it opposition lies and propaganda. Then, the following year, they lied about the amount and the nature of the losses. To the Cabinet, they said it was ‘deferred expenditure’ and unrealised losses while, to Parliament, they said it was merely a ‘paper loss’. Now the public is going to know that those behind PPBM and Pakatan Harapan stole US$10 billion of the nation’s money and lied about it for more than 20 years.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

In 1991, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Daim Zainuddin appointed Anwar Ibrahim the new Finance Minister. There was going to be an explosion they needed handling, and Anwar was the ideal candidate to handle this problem. And that problem was Bank Negara Malaysia had been gambling on the forex market since 1988 and the chickens were about to come home to roost. Bank Negara was soon going to lose billions.

In 1993, Lim Kit Siang stood up in Parliament and asked about the rumour he heard regarding Bank Negara losing a lot of money gambling on the forex market. Mahathir and Daim asked Anwar to reply that Bank Negara did not lose anything. Anwar said the allegation that Bank Negara had lost money gambling on the forex market was a lie and mere opposition propaganda.

In 1994, the rumour became too strong and could no longer be denied. When Kit Siang again raised the matter in Parliament, this time Parliament was told that the losses were ‘small’ and were only ‘paper losses’. The truth is, in 1992 Bank Negara lost about RM12 billion gambling on the forex market. In 1993 they lost another RM15 billion and in 1994 roughly RM3 billion.

Kit Siang has been screaming for a RCI to investigate Bank Negara’s forex losses to be set up so that the guilty parties can be sent to jail

In total, Bank Negara lost RM30 billion or US$10 billion over three years gambling on the forex market.

So they lied. In 1993, they told Parliament that Bank Negara lost nothing when, in fact, the losses were already more than RM27 billion. In 1994, they told Parliament that the losses were very small and only ‘paper losses’ when, in fact, it was already RM30 billion. Not enough they lied to Parliament, in 1994 they also lied to the Cabinet and said that it was ‘deferred expenditure’ and unrealised losses and that the figure was only RM5.7 billion — whereas it was actually already RM30 billion or US$10 billion by then.

So Mahathir and Daim lied on two counts. They lied about the amount and they also lied about the nature of the losses. And they told Parliament one thing and the Cabinet something else.

Mahathir and Daim tried to cover up the crime and even bankrupted MAS in the process

The Cabinet papers and the Parliament hansards have records of all these lies. And if the RCI gets its hands on these documents Mahathir and Daim are going to join Anwar in jail. The Parliament hansards are public documents and you can get them on the internet while the Cabinet papers are protected by the Official Secrets Act and will need declassifying first.

As Mahathir said, the Prime Minister must take responsibility since he is the Prime Minister so he must be blamed for any financial scandal. In that case Mahathir was the Prime Minister when Bank Negara lostRM30 billion so he must take the blame.

Even more important than that, Mahathir must not only take the blame for the RM30 billion forex losses but also for covering up this fact and for lying to Parliament and to the Cabinet. Mahathir and Daim lied to Umno, Barisan Nasional, the Cabinet, Parliament and to the people of Malaysia. 

What the RCI is going to discover is not only that Bank Negara lost RM30 billion, or that Mahathir and Daim lied about the amount and the nature of the losses, they are also going to discover that the losses were not all forex losses but that much of the money was actually stolen or syphoned out.

Mahathir’s and his children’s 480 companies is the means to clean the stolen money

Once the RCI looks into Mahathir’s and his children’s 480 companies and businesses, it will be seen that a big chunk of the so-called ‘forex losses’ ended up in these companies. They needed these front companies or businesses as conduits for the money. The money cannot suddenly end up in the Mahathir clan pockets. So the money first went to these companies and then came back to the family as if this wealth came from the profits of their businesses (READ MORE HERE: Mahathir’s money-laundering operation).

But Mahathir is not stupid. He knows that money will leave a paper trail. So the money has to go through many processes before it ends up in their companies and then in their pockets as supposedly profits from their business activities. The RCI will need to trace this paper trail to detect how the money came from Bank Negara and ended up in Mahathir’s pocket and that of his family.

On another point, Kit Siang wants the Special Task Force report to be made public. Why is that? The Special Task Force report has already been sent to the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) that has been set up to investigate Bank Negara’s losses gambling on the forex market. So now it is a RCI matter and no longer a Special Task Force matter.

Kit Siang is now trying to save Mahathir to save Pakatan Harapan

Kit Siang is worried about what the RCI is going to discover. So he is trying to find fault with the Special Task Force report so that he can scream about unfairness and discrepancies even before the RCI sits and comes out with its findings. Once the RCI comes out with its final report it will be too late. So Kit Siang needs to save Mahathir by creating doubts about the Special Task Force report. If not Kit Siang will lose his most important attack dog.

Kit Siang cannot afford for the RCI to reveal the truth — the truth about the real losses, the lies, and where the money went. What do you think is going to happen if the RCI reveals the truth? Are Malaysians going to vote Mahathir ‘The Man of the Year’ and propose him as Pakatan Harapan’s Prime Minister-in-waiting? In fact, not only Mahathir, but Daim, too, is going to die. And that would leave Kit Siang with only Mat Sabu and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to lead Pakatan Harapan in facing the Umno-led Barisan Nasional in the next general election. Can you imagine Pakatan Harapan forming the next government with these three stooges leading the charge?