Ex-BNM governor wrote to Anwar on ‘error of judgment by several officers’
PUTRAJAYA: Former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Ahmad Mohd Don had notified then finance minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of the “error of judgment of a few (BNM) officers”.
Ahmad was made governor in May 1994 right after his predecessor, the late Tan Sri Jaafar Hussein, stepped down following the foreign exchange (forex) trading scandal, with losses amounting to some RM31 billion between 1990 and 1994.
“I was made governor in May 1994.
“Prior to that, I was managing director and group chief executive of Maybank Group,” said Ahmad during his testimony at the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) yesterday afternoon.
“As such, I do not have extensive knowledge of what transpired in the bank prior to my appointment.”
He, however, noted that he did write a letter to Anwar, which contained his observations of the central bank’s conditions after suffering the massive forex losses.
“I did write a letter to Anwar titled ‘A Report on Bank Negara’ on Aug 8, 1994, on my observations after being appointed governor,” said Ahmad.
“In paragraph three of the letter, I did write something along the lines of ‘...error of judgment of a few officers’.
“However, I want to stress that this was not in reference to any particular individual, but merely an observation of what happened.”
Ahmad, 70, said that he could not remember now whether he ever received a written reply from Anwar, but he knew that Anwar did receive the letter.
Ahmad, who was governor from May 1994 to August 1998, was in high spirits during the proceedings and even laughed when queried by RCI panel member Tan Sri Saw Choo Boon.
“Former BNM adviser Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said that the forex scandal was worthwhile as it gave the country the crucial know-how on the formulation of the Unorthodox Measures, which helped us withstand the financial challenges during the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis.
“Do you agree with this?” said Saw to Ahmad.
Ahmad then burst out laughing before replying: “I don’t know if it (the forex scandal) was worthwhile, but I do know that we had to do a lot of tightening up (of policies and bank procedures) following that.” Additional reporting by Hana Naz Harun