FORMER finance minister Daim Zainuddin’s denial that he knew about Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) forex losses, as well as its workings, drew testy rebukes from royal commission of inquiry chairman Mohd Sidek Hassan today.

He resisted the RCI’s assertion that he must have known about BNM’s forex activities, and even questioned the logic of the panel chief.

Daim, who was finance minister from July 1984 to March 1991, said BNM was independent and not obliged to report to him.

“I didn’t know about the RM 772.3 million in losses in 1988 and the RM2.259 billion in 1989 incurred by BNM due to forex transactions.

“I also didn’t know about the RM2.473 billion in profits in 1990 gained by BNM due to the forex transactions,” he said in his written testimony that was later given to the media.

Pressed by Sidek on why he did not know what was going on in the central bank, Daim kept repeating that he simply was not informed.

“If I knew these things, there’s no way I would have allowed it to happen. I would have sacked them. But I do not know how to act. There needs to be logic in your thinking,” said Daim, the RCI’s 23rd witness.

Sidek replied: “The illogical part, Tun (Daim), is that everyone seems to know, and you do not know. With respect, Tun, the Official Secrets Act is to protect information on the people who are supposed to know. In this case, you are supposed to know.”

Other panel members said Daim, as the then finance minister, was obliged to have known about BNM’s forex dealings as the law governing the central bank required it.

“If they chose not to inform me, what could I do?” Daim said.

He added that as finance minister, he had to oversee many things, such as the Employees Provident Fund, the economy and the Customs Department.

He said the government at the time had shares in 1,200 companies.

Sidek said while he did not expect the finance minister to know everything, something as significant as forex trading losses, which impacted the nation, should not have escaped Daim’s attention.

He added that he found it odd that other lower-ranking officials, citing former senior auditor P. Kanason Pothinker as an example, had known about the forex losses, and yet, Daim had not.

“And you, as a minister who was so good, didn’t know. I find that so odd. Don’t you agree?” said Sidek.

Daim replied: “How can I agree or disagree when I wasn’t informed?”

In his written statement, Daim said the first time he had heard of the losses was in the statement Summary of Foreign Exchange Gains/ Losses, Accounting Treatment of Losses Arising From Active Treatment Management 1998-1994, dated April 18, 2007.

He said he did not know that BNM was actively involved in forex transactions in 1988 if there had been a policy change to pursue aggressive forex trading after that year. – September 18, 2017.