DR Mahathir Mohamad has denied being informed that Bank Negara Malaysia’s forex losses had ballooned to RM30 billion, as alleged by former Treasury secretary-general Clifford Herbert.

Herbert, in a witness statement, said he and then finance minister Anwar Ibrahim had both met the former prime minister in late 1993.

He said both of them had reported to Dr Mahathir that BNM’s losses from forex trading exceeded RM30 billion.

Dr Mahathir said he could not recall making the comment that “sometimes, we make a profit and sometimes, we make losses”.

“I am certain the figure reported to me was not RM30 billion,” Dr Mahathir said in his written statement to the royal commission of inquiry today.

“If it had been RM30 billion, it would be impossible for me to say that.”

Dr Mahathir said the comment would not have been unusual otherwise as in the late 1980s, former BNM governor Jaffar Hussein had informed him of losses in the 1980s and the profits recorded in 1992.

At the time, Malaysia’s borrowings in yen became three times more expensive compared with the ringgit as a direct result of the “Plaza Accord”, he said.

“By the same token, the import value of the yen rose three times as well.

“It was at that time, to my knowledge, that (Jaffar) made the decision to get BNM involved more actively in foreign exchange trading for the purpose of balancing/stablising the currency volatility to preserve the country’s reserves and economy.”

Dr Mahathir said he accepted Jaffar’s “reasoning” as to why BNM was actively involved in foreign exchange trading.

“Aside from that, I have no personal/private knowledge (‘pengetahuan peribadi’) regarding the details; neither the profit nor losses in any of the foreign exchange dealings carried out by BNM while I was prime minister.”

He said he once went to BNM’s trading room at Jaffar’s invitation and spent about half an hour there, observing.

“During my visit, I was informed verbally by (Jaffar) that BNM was able to strengthen the country’s reserves via foreign exchange trading at that period.” – September 18, 2017.