Bank Negara's bid to prevent documents classified as Official Secrets Act (OSA) from being exposed to the public hits a brick wall.
This is after the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Bank Negara's foreign exchange (forex) losses refused to accept the bank's argument on this matter.
During hearing today, Bank Negara's counsel Tan Hock Chuan argued that both the audit and accounting losses reports were classified under the OSA.
"The owner of the document should treat them and the information contained (in them) as official secrets. It's not open to anyone who regards it as otherwise," he insisted.
However, Mohd Sidek Hassan, who heads the six-member RCI, stressed that the hearing was an inquiry and not a trial.
"I'm not good at law," he admitted. "I didn't study law, I wanted to be a lawyer.”
"But I have been advised this is an inquiry, not a trial. We're commissioned by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to do this... Therefore, I'm going to continue the inquiry without delay,” he added.
Citing Section 8 of the Commission of Enquiry Act, Tan argued that it concerned certain procedures and admissibility of evidence.
"Witnesses from Bank Negara - they are not protected under the Act.
"You have immunity, all commissioners have full immunity. The two witnesses from Bank Negara don't have immunity from the OSA.
"Today, they won't be charged. But 10 years down the road, we don't know,” he told the RCI.
Urging for the contents of the reports to be excluded from the public and press, Tan told the commissioners that they were forcing the witnesses to breach the OSA.
Arguing otherwise, Sidek cited Article 21(2) of the Act which states that all evidence is given for a purpose.
"If all is OSA this and that, then there's no point in having this inquiry. I'm not going to have any more debate. Suhaimi (Ibrahim), go ahead," he instructed the RCI's conducting officer.
The RCI was set up in line with the Commission of Enquiry Act and its members received the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Muhammad V.
Apart from Sidek, others on the panel are Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah) co-chairperson Saw Choo Boon, High Court judge Kamaludin Md Said, Bursa Malaysia Bhd chief executive officer Tajuddin Atan and Malaysian Institute of Accountants member K Pushpanathan.
The Prime Minister’s Office on July 18 said the RCI would complete its probe within three months from the date of its setting up on July 15, 2017 and thereafter submit its report to the Agong.
The forex scandal occurred during the 1990s when Mahathir was prime minister, prompting certain quarters to accuse Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of attempting to exact political revenge against his nemesis and deflect attention from the 1MDB scandal. - Mkini
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