IF Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim are guilty of allowing Bank Negara’s costly forex foray, then Prime Minister Najib Razak is also culpable as finance minister after an audit was carried out in 2007 on the losses. 

“The commission says now that there should be a criminal investigation into intentional concealment of the losses,” Anwar’s lawyer, Sivarasa Rasiah, told The Malaysian Insight in reaction to the royal commission of inquiry findings tabled in Parliament today.  

“It is undisputed that the losses were audited in 2007 at the instruction of (former central bank governor) Zeti Akhtar Aziz. Surely this was then also made known to the then finance minister Najib who kept quiet about it. So why is Najib not recommended for investigation?”

During the RCI hearing, former Accounting Department director Abdul Aziz Abdul Manaf testified that he was ordered to prepare an accounting treatment. 

The ensuing report, entitled Accounting treatment of losses arising from active reserve management 1988-1994 was delivered to Zeti in April 2007. 

It was from this report that the RCI panel, led by Petronas chairman Mohd Sidek Hassan, derived the figure of RM31.5 billion in losses between 1992 and 1994. The report remains classified. 

“The issue of Bank Negara Malaysia forex losses was brought up in Parliament in 2012. The deputy finance minister adopted and presented the losses as was presented by Anwar in 1993 and 1994. The cabinet and Prime Minister Najib stood by the earlier version. So why is that not concealment?” Sivarasa said.  

He added that the timing of the release of the report reaffirms the view that “this process was politically motivated”.

“Why release a report on the last day of Parliament and so prevent any debate on it? Why was it not presented when Parliament started on October 23?

“We also say that these findings are contrary to some of the undisputed facts placed before the hearing. The commission also makes no attempt to deal with these facts.”

The RCI report alleges that Anwar, the then finance minister, deliberately concealed the extent of the actual losses from the cabinet. 

“They set out how the auditor-general brought it to his attention but they completely ignored the fact that Anwar ordered BNM to respond to the AG on their accounting treatment. They ignore the fact that the AG then signed off on the final audited account of BNM.”

Sivarasa said an objective commission would set out all these facts and deal with them and not deliberately ignore them because they do not fit the narrative. 

“Ignoring such critical facts affirms a bias,” he said. 

During the hearing, Anwar testified that it was the practice of the cabinet to only discuss the final audit report signed by the auditor-general for any agency and not discuss the process and documentation of the audit trail. 

“All this is again ignored and not rebutted. We dismiss this report as presenting facts selectively and for a political agenda,” Sivarasa said. 

“Billions are being stolen under our nose using 1MDB, Felda, Mara and other agencies. It appears that this report will be used as an attempt to throw up a smokescreen for those scandals. We do not think the rakyat will be so easily fooled,” he added. – November 30, 2017.