NAJIB Razak should have taken the witness stand at the royal commission of inquiry into Bank Negara Malaysia’s forex losses to explain why a probe is being conducted now under his administration and not earlier, said a lawyer for Anwar Ibrahim.

R. Sivarasa said Najib was a Cabinet member 25 years ago when the losses occurred due to aggressive forex trading by the central bank to preserve its reserves and support the ringgit.

He said the RCI could have called the prime minister to explain why he wanted an inquiry now as he was the one to revisit the issue.

“Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the appointment of the RCI by the king is a constitutional process, and the real party behind the setting up of the commission is the (current) Cabinet.

“In reality, it is a decision by Najib to open up the issue and set up an RCI in 2017, whereas in 1993, as a senior Cabinet member, he had said ‘no’ to it,” Sivarasa said, referring to calls by the opposition then for a similar inquiry.

“But 24 years later, he changes his position. Why?” he told reporters after the RCI ended its proceedings in Putrajaya today.

Sivarasa said the RCI was politically motivated and only came about after comments by former BNM assistant governor Abdul Murad Khalid were published in the New Straits Times.

Murad had said the actual losses were higher than what was stated in the central bank’s annual report.

“Within weeks (of Murad’s statements), the processes (for an inquiry) started.

“If they wanted an inquiry, this (RCI) should have happened 25 years ago, not in 2017, which makes it more difficult. (Back then,) when Lim Kit Siang had asked for an RCI, he (Najib) said ‘no’.”

Another of Anwar’s lawyers, Gurdial Singh, who also spoke to reporters after the RCI proceedings ended, said then deputy finance minister Mustapa Mohamed, along with the rest of the Cabinet then, had said there was no need for an RCI.

Mustapa is currently international trade and industry minister.

Gurdial said the “serious downside” of the inquiry was that crucial witnesses – former BNM governor Jaffar Hussein and former auditor general Ishak Tadin – were unavailable to testify.

“Jaffar has passed on, and Ishak is not able to remember the facts because of his medical condition.

“Our problem is that the real facts needed to establish the truth are handicapped, and this affects the final outcome of the report.”

Sivarasa added that the RCI process had been unfair to the jailed Anwar.

“We have been denied (access to) the 42 documents available to the commission. This has never happened in other commissions. The documents need to be studied because these are complex issues.

“Now, we have to write submissions without having seen the documents.”

Lawyers for Anwar, Dr Mahathir Mohamad and BNM were asked to submit their written submissions to the RCI secretariat by 5pm on Thursday.

Sivarasa said the comments by RCI chairman Mohd Sidek Hassan made it “obvious” that the panel was out to target Anwar, who was finance minister at the time.

“We will rebut those insinuations in our submissions that the Parliament and Cabinet were misled.” – September 19, 2017.