THE royal commission of inquiry report on Bank Negara Malaysia’s foreign exchange losses clearly targets Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim, and as such, cannot be taken seriously.

Social activists said the report was a sham, and reiterated calls for the government to focus on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal instead of the forex losses, which occurred almost 30 years ago.

Lawyers for Liberty president Eric Paulsen said the RCI, as an institution, had been besmirched due to the forex RCI panel’s haste to finger the government’s political opponents for wrongdoing.

“No right-thinking person can take this report seriously as it is clearly politically motivated to place blame on Dr Mahathir and Anwar over a scandal that happened more than 25 years ago,” Paulsen told The Malaysian Insight.

“Usually, RCIs are held soon after a major scandal, like the Penang ferry terminal collapse in 1988, or Anwar’s black eye incident in 1999.

“Why have an inquiry into the (forex) scandal now after more than 25 years have lapsed, other than for an ulterior motive?”

The RCI was formed to determine the truth behind BNM’s losses, totalling RM31.5 billion, due to forex trading between 1992 and 1994.

The commission’s report, which was tabled in Parliament yesterday, pinned the blame on former BNM adviser Nor Mohamed Yakcop, and also implicated then prime minister Dr Mahathir and Anwar, who was finance minister at the time.

The RCI recommended that police investigate Dr Mahathir, Anwar, the BNM board of directors, National Audit Department and Finance Ministry.

Following the tabling of the findings, the RCI secretary lodged a police report based on the commission’s recommendations.

Dr Mahathir and Anwar now head the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition, which aims to oust Prime Minister Najib Razak in the 14th general election.

Paulsen said the RCI was clearly rushed, taking only nine days to complete, unlike other RCIs.

“Very little documentary evidence was adduced, which is quite unusual for transactions that involve billions, and instead, (the RCI panel) relied mainly on the memory of the individuals involved at the time.

“How reliable is their (witnesses’) memory after more than 25 years, and especially if only a few documents were tendered to cross-check what they said?

“If the government is serious in tackling corruption and abuse of power here and now, the biggest scandal in the country is 1MDB.”

Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism executive director Cynthia Gabriel said political motivation was evident from the start of the RCI.

“We are questioning all of its veracity and correctness. The forex scandal pales in comparison to the massive theft of public funds, shameless greed and nepotism in the 1MDB scandal.

“We can’t wait any longer for an RCI on this (1MDB).”

Gabriel said if Nor Mohamed had committed such grave wrongs, he should have been punished much earlier, and not almost three decades later.

Klang MP Charles Santiago said from the onset of the RCI, it was clear that the commission targeted the indictment of Dr Mahathir and Anwar.

“This is definitely a witch hunt to stop them. There was no interest in looking for justice or trying to find out about the forex losses.”

He said it was clear that nobody had stolen money, as it was a business transaction that resulted in the losses.

“There could have been a lack of oversight, which is a big difference from 1MDB.

“The 1MDB scandal was a calculated move to funnel funds to individuals. It was a cleverly thought-out plan to move money.

“The forex losses were a clear business transaction that the government made and lost.”

Santiago said the forex RCI was a waste of money, and what really needed to be done was to set up an RCI on 1MDB.

“There must be an RCI on 1MDB, where you can recover the money. For the forex losses, you can’t recover anything because the money is gone.” – December 1, 2017.