THE government’s Royal Commission of Inquiry into Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) forex losses in the 1980s is just a political game as it omitted information given by Anwar Ibrahim and Nor Mohamed Yakcop, says Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“This includes information given by me,” said Dr Mahathir, who was prime minister from 1981 to 2003, in a Facebook video that streamed about 1pm today.

“They picked and chose the information they wanted to put in the RCI report to discredit certain people, including myself. It is also to enable legal action to be taken against me,” said the 92-year-old leader of the Pakatan Harapan coalition.

“This is because I’m leading an opposition party now. I would be safe if I had not done so (lead the opposition). 

“This is a political move that is not based on the law,” he added in the three-minute clip.

The Pakatan chairman said the BNM forex losses occurred 30 years ago and had already been resolved but nothing was being done about the alleged RM2.6 billion embezzlement by Prime Minister Najib Razak. 

“It is being covered up and no RCI on the 1MDB scandal is being done,” he said.

He said this was the government’s way of choosing sides and and does nothing but reflect on their misappropriation of power as a means to stop the opposition from bringing the government down.

“They can investigate if I have stolen any money or not. They have been trying to find out if I have stolen the government’s money but they can’t find anything,” Dr Mahathir said, adding that the report would have been a laughing stock in any other country.

The RCI was formed to determine why BNM lost RM31.5 billion due to forex trading between 1992 and 1994.

The findings of the RCI report, which were presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on October 13, were tabled in Parliament on November 30.

The RCI found Nor Mohamed responsible for the billions of ringgit in losses incurred by the central bank.

Nor Mohamed managed the central bank’s portfolio from 1986 to 1993, which included overseeing the bank’s foreign reserves and regulation of internal financial markets.

The RCI also found the case to have been a criminal breach of trust under Section 406 and 409 of the Penal Code.

It also implicated Dr Mahathir and Anwar, who was finance minister at the time.

The RCI recommended that police investigate Dr Mahathir, Anwar, BNM’s board of directors, the Audit Department and Finance Ministry. – December 5, 2017.