‘Anwar concealed actual losses’
RCI secretary Datuk Dr Yusof Ismail, who is Finance Ministry Strategic Investment Division director, had lodged a report at the Putrajaya police headquarters last Thursday to get the police to initiate an official investigation.
In his police report, Yusof stated that those allegedly to be involved in the wrongdoings were BNM officers, the BNM board of directors, National Audit Department, Finance Ministry and the prime minister who served during the period.
The RCI, in its 524-page report that was tabled in Parliament on Thursday, had recommended that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, then finance minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and former Bank Negara adviser Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, be probed over their involvement in the scandal.
The RCI, which cited Nor Mohamed as “principally liable for criminal breach of trust”, also alleged that ex-finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin had aided and abetted Nor Mohamed by leaving BNM “to its own devices”.
It believed that Anwar as finance minister at the time, had misled the government and concealed the actual losses suffered by BNM, which the RCI revealed was RM31.5 billion over three years, far larger than the RM5.7 billion initially reported by the central bank.
The RCI said it believed that Mahathir, as prime minister then, had approved Anwar’s “misleading statements”.