Murad's 'brief' for Anwar a year too late, says lawyer

Anwar Ibrahim had briefed Parliament in 1993, in his capacity as finance minister, on Bank Negara's losses at the foreign exchange market, said his lawyer R Sivarasa.

This, said Sivarasa, was a matter of public record and therefore would damage the credibility of former Bank Negara assistant governor Abdul Murad Khalid's testimony to the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) yesterday.

Murad had told the RCI that he had briefed Anwar about the losses in 1994 during a trip to Hawaii.

Sivarasa said he was surprised that the RCI panel did not quiz Murad on this since they should be familiar with the sequence of events.

"I'm surprised the panel couldn't even question him properly because anybody who is familiar with what happened in Parliament in 1993 and 1994 will know that this issue was already being raised in 1993.

"Anwar as finance minister was already responding to the issue in Parliament in 1993 while Murad claimed to have briefed him only in 1994," Sivarasa told Malaysiakini.

Testimony doesn't make sense

Murad's statement, therefore, simply "did not make sense", asserted Sivarasa.

"Perhaps he's not the first or the only person to have briefed Anwar (on the matter). (But) it's a matter of record, you can check the Hansard.

"I'm going to take a lot of his (Murad's) statements with a big pinch of salt.

"For him to say Anwar was only briefed about it in 1994 cannot be right because Anwar was already answering then opposition leader Lim Kit Siang in Parliament in 1993," he added.

Anwar, who became finance minister in 1991, has on numerous occasions denied involvement in Bank Negara's decisions that led to the losses.

He was previously reported to have said that he only came to know about the losses in 1992. Lim was the first to raise the matter in Parliament, alleging then that the forex losses were an estimated RM30 billion.

Why the two-year gap?

On Murad's testimony that Anwar had once said he would have to resign if the magnitude of Bank Negara's losses was made public, Sivarasa said his client would respond to this eventually.

"What he said to Anwar in Hawaii, that we'll have to ask Anwar when he (testifies).

"I was not there when the conversation was made in 1994. (But) what I can tell you is his statement on Anwar only knowing about in 1994 cannot be correct," he said.

Sivarasa also questioned why Murad had only briefed Anwar in 1994 when he had already come to know of the losses two years prior.

"Why the two-year gap? I'm surprised the panel didn't ask him the question. They don't seem to be very clear about the timeline," added Sivarasa.

Murad testified yesterday that he was instructed by then Bank Negara governor Jaffar Hussein to explain the forex losses to Anwar in 1994.

Will Anwar be called to testify?

Meanwhile, Sivarasa said his client has not been informed if he will be called to testify.

"Although we have written to them officially for a witness list, they have not responded to us officially or even informed us that they want him to testify.

"But of course we expect him to be called. In the event he's called I'm sure he will be responding to all the issues raised," he said.

He said the RCI's failure to supply a witness list was unfair to his client. He said he would raise this matter with the RCI, again, when the hearing resumes on Thursday.

The RCI was established on July 15 and is expected to wrap up by October.

It has been tasked with determining the veracity of allegations surrounding the forex losses incurred by Bank Negara and its implications on the national economy, among others. - Mkini