PETALING JAYA: As promised, Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s lawyers today sent a letter of demand to stop the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) from circulating the current report unless they include their client’s documents and notes of proceedings.
Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla said the letter, addressed to RCI secretary Yusof Ismail, said it expressed regret that the tribunal had omitted 495 pages of Mahathir’s legal documents in the report made public on Thursday.
Haniff said the documents were “talking points” during the inquiry, written submissions of Mahathir together with case laws in support of their argument and the entire RCI notes of proceedings.
The lawyer said he had sought guidance from the tribunal chairman on what would be the contents that would accompany the RCI findings to ensure the integrity of the commission was preserved.
“However, we discovered in the report that our talking points and submissions have been summarised in three and half pages. The entire proceeding of the hearing is also not there,” he added.
He said all these documents must be in the report for readers to analyse the RCI’s finding and make their own conclusion.
“As such, we give the RCI until Friday 5pm for the secretariat to include 495 pages of our client’s legal documents and transcript of the hearing in both English and Bahasa Malaysia,” he said.
Haniff said any further printing and circulation of the report should cease until the matter was rectified.
He said in the interest of justice and to preserve his client’s rights, legal acton would be taken if the demands were not adhered to.
A copy of the letter was also extended to government lawyers who acted as conducting officers, lawyers for Anwar Ibrahim and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
The five-man RCI, chaired by Mohd Sidek Hassan, concluded there were elements of hidden facts and information relating to forex losses suffered by BNM and misleading statements given to the cabinet, Parliament and the public.
The report said BNM suffered a total loss of RM31.5 billion between 1992 and 1994.
The commission proposed that the police open investigations into possible criminal breach of trust or cheating by various parties, including Mahathir and then finance minister (1991-1998) Anwar.
Special mention was made to ex-Bank Negara adviser Nor Mohamed Yakcop, whom the report named as “principally liable for criminal breach of trust” while Daim Zainuddin, another former finance minister (1984-1991), was said to have aided and abetted Nor Mohamed. -FMT
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