THE real purpose of the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) is not to investigate the forex losses sustained by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), but to make Dr Mahathir Mohamad look bad,  said the former prime minister, after testifying at a hearing.

“It is about finding a away to make me look bad in the eyes of the public. That during my time, money was also stolen,” he told reporters in Putrajaya.

The RCI was created with the aim of making the accusation that money amounting to RM30 billion was “stolen” during the Mahathir administration, he said.

“That is their purpose, but I’m afraid they haven’t achieved their objective of making it look like kleptocracy.”

Dr Mahathir today testified that he had not known that the central bank allegedly lost RM30 billion in forex trading, saying he believed the losses to have amounted to RM5.7 billion as reported in BNM’s audited report that was later presented to the cabinet and tabled in Parliament.

The RCI is investigating the forex trading losses suffered by the central bank from 1988 to 1994.

Dr Mahathir was prime minister from 1981 to 2003, 

Asked why the testimony of former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim had been brought up during the hearing, Dr Mahathir said, “They’re trying to pin the blame on somebody.”

“They think they can blame Anwar. I don’t see any reason why that should be so because Anwar told (me) what was told to him.

“They want to make us look bad. That we told lies and so forth,” he said.

Dr Mahathir and Anwar are now in the opposition.

Dr Mahathir, who is Pakatan Harapan chairman, said BNM’s assets today ran into the hundreds of millions. 

“And please remember that only RM5 million (in start up capital) was given to BNM. So you are going to say BNM is a villain that doesn’t look after our money?

Asked to comment on DAP lawmaker Lim Kit Siang’s call for an RCI into the matter more than two decades ago, Dr Mahathir said Prime Minister Najib Razak  “should have raised it back then”.

“Why is he only raising it now?

“Back then he was smiling and applauding all the time,” he said.

While testifying, Dr Mahathir said Najib was making himself a laughing stock by pursuing an inquiry 25 years late,  and for failing to come clean on alleged kleptocracy in his administration. – September 18, 2017.