‘DON’T INTERFERE’
A FORMER AUDITOR, WHO QUERIED BANK NEGARA'S FOREX TRADING, SAYS HE WAS TOLD ‘ORANG ATASAN CAKAP JANGAN CAMPUR TANGAN’ (HIGHER-UPS SAID DON’T INTERFERE) THE BANK'S FOREX TRADING IN THE 1990S DID NOT COMPLY WITH REQUIREMENTS OF CENTRAL BANK OF MALAYSIA ACT
AWITNESS at yesterday’s Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to probe the 1990s foreign exchange (forex) scandal claimed that he was told that nothing could be done over the matter as “orang atasan cakap jangan campur tangan” (people from the higher-ups said don’t interfere).
In another shocking revelation discovered at the inquiry, former auditor with the Auditor General’s (AG) Office P. Kanason said Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) forex trading at the time did not comply with the requirements of the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 1958. He also questioned if the activity was legal, while describing the revelation as “a shock of my life”.
Kanason, 78, explained that at the time, he had talked to former AG Tan Sri Ainum Mohamed Saaid, who told him that the trading was not legal or in compliance with the requirements of the act, adding that a written reply would be given soon.
However, he said, no such written reply was given, which led him to ask Ainum further on the matter.
Kanason said Ainum told him there was nothing they could do to stop BNM or expose the crime as “people from the higher-ups said don’t interfere”.
“Days passed without the expected advice and I thought I should enquire, so I rang up Ainum and I was told by her that ‘orang atasan cakap jangan campur tangan’.
“I got a shock of my life,” he told the RCI in its hearing yesterday.
That, however, did not deter Kanason and with the approval of his direct superior at the time, he wrote a letter to then BNM governor Tan Sri Jaffar Hussein, stating the AG’s Office’s views on the massive forex trading.
Kanason said that he did eventually receive a written reply from the governor, stating that the letter was brought to the attention of BNM’s board of directors.
He then brought up the matter again during a meeting with the audit committee of BNM, which was chaired by Tunku Tan Sri Ahmad Tunku Yahaya.
Kanason said Ahmad acknowledged the existence of his letter, but made no further comments.
In his testimony, Kanason cited Section 31 of the act, which stated that “the bank may not engage or trade in or otherwise have a direct interest in any commercial, agricultural, industrial or any other undertaking”.
“It was, however, not the auditor’s place to decide on the matters of the law and its interpretation. It was then therefore decided to discuss the matter with the head of advisory services Tan Sri Ainum.
“It was during a meeting in regards directly to Section 13 of the act that Ainum verbally advised that the central bank’s forex trading was not in compliance with the act and that a written reply will be given in due course,” he said.
The RCI yesterday entered its third proceedings. Led by chairman Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, the five-man panel is tasked with finding the cause of BNM’s forex scandal of 1990s with losses amounting to billions of ringgit. Additional reporting by Arfa Yunus