SALLEH Said Keruak should not be telling Dr Mahathir Mohamad to place the blame on DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang for Putrajaya initiating a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the forex losses in the 1990s, says Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong.

Liew said the government should instead look into having a RCI on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which Kit Siang has been pursuing for years.

“The government should honour Kit Siang’s call for a RCI into the 1MDB scandal now and not 25 years later.

“He has been calling for an RCI on 1MDB for the last three years,” he said at DAP’s headquarters today.

Salleh, who is communications and multimedia minister, had said that Dr Mahathir Mohamad should not blame former Bank Negara Malaysia assistant governor Abdul Murad Khalid over the RM31.5 billion Bank Negara forex losses.

He said the former prime minister should instead direct his anger at Kit Siang.

Salleh had said that Murad merely testified in the RCI hearing and that it was Kit Siang who had urged for a RCI into the forex losses for years.

Liew said that, as they were in office at the time, Dr Mahathir and former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim had a responsibility to bear for the losses but stressed that in this case, no money had gone into their personal bank accounts.

“In the 1MDB issue, money went into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal account where as in the forex crisis, they (Dr Mahathir and Anwar) were not personally implicated.”

Yesterday, Dr Mahathir pinned the blame for the losses on Murad, claiming that he had known about the losses but chose to keep quite about it until recently.

BNM’s forex trading losses were the subject of a RCI that recommended Dr Mahathir, Anwar and former BNM adviser Nor Mohamed Yakcop be investigated for criminal breach of trust.

Dr Mahathir had said the RCI was aimed at damaging his name ahead of the general election next year and questioned why the government was not investigating the 1MDB scandal. – December 21, 2017.