‘Barisan govt would have jailed Tun M’
> PM told me he was prepared for incarceration, says Guan Eng
PORT DICKSON: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would have been put behind bars if Pakatan Harapan (PH) had lost in the 14th general election (GE14), said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Speaking to over 3,000 people attending a PH mega ceramah for the Port Dickson by-election on Monday night, Lim said Mahathir had told him prior to the May 9 polls that he was prepared to face imprisonment.
The DAP secretary-general said Mahathir, who was then at the centre of a probe on foreign exchange (forex) losses in the 1990s, was close to being jailed by the Barisan Nasional (BN) regime.
“Not only had (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim been in prison, I was too,” Lim said.
“If we (PH) had lost in GE14, I think Tun would have also been incarcerated.
“Tun had told me he was ready. And can we forget (Tun Dr) Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali was also once questioned by the police? If the other side had won, we would all have been put in prison,” Lim said.
On Sept 19 last year, the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the forex losses suffered by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) concluded its proceedings after calling 25 witnesses.
PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had said then that the RCI report was “politically motivated”.
Former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin had told the RCI that he had never spoken to Mahathir (who was then prime minister) about the central bank’s forex dealings.
Daim said then-BNM governor, the late Tan Sri Jaffar Hussein, had also never discussed the matter with him.