Mahathir seeks to declare RCI report as null and void

KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday filed a suit seeking to declare the report by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the losses suffered by Bank Negara due to foreign exchange (forex) trading in the 1990s as null and void.

In the six-page originating summons, Mahathir claimed the report was illegal, incomplete and defective as it lacked proceeding notes, and written and oral submissions through transcription or video recording.

The suit also sought to declare any reports by any RCIs established under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1950 only legal and in order if it has all the written statements by the witnesses who testified in the proceeding, the proceeding notes, the submissions, and the findings.

The suit named the five RCI panel members: Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, Datuk Kamaludin Md Said, Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan, Tan Sri Saw Choo Boon, S.A.K. Pushpanathan, RCI secretary Datuk Dr Yusof Ismail, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Cabinet ministers and the Malaysian Government as defendants.

The suit was filed through the Messrs of Haniff Khatri at the High Court registry here on Tuesday.

On Oct 13, Mohd Sidek, who was the RCI chairman, presented the RCI findings on Bank Negara Malaysia’s forex trading losses to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V during a meeting.