DEC 17 DECISION ON DR M’S FOREX SUIT
He had applied to declare the Royal Commission of Inquiry report into forex losses null and void
THE High Court here fixed Dec 17 to decide on an application by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (A-GC) to strike out Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s suit to declare null and void the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report into foreign exchange losses suffered by Bank Negara Malaysia in the 1990s.
Senior federal counsel Mazlifah Ayob, who acted for the A-GC, said the court fixed the date after hearing arguments by the parties.
She said the application was made on grounds that the suit was not justiciable and therefore, could not be challenged in court.
She said the matter had become academic since the RCI report had been tabled in Parliament and was made known to the public.
“The striking-out application was made as there was no cause of action. We have argued and the court will give its decision on Dec 17,” she said when the matter came up before judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi in chambers.
Dr Mahathir’s lawyer, Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, said in his reply to the strikingout application that everything tendered during the RCI proceedings must be included in the report.
He said for people reading the report to have a fair understanding of the matter, they needed to know the documents presented in the proceedings.
“We are only seeking declarations. There is no liability attached to this action.
“We have written in earlier to the A-GC and asked for the report to be rectified, but unfortunately, until today, we have not received a reply,” he said.
Dr Mahathir had filed the originating summons on Dec 19 last year, naming Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, who is RCI chairman, and members Datuk Kamaludin Md Said, Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan, Tan Sri Saw Choo Boo, K. Pushpanathanan and Datuk Dr Yusof Ismail as defendants.
Also named as defendants were former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the cabinet and the government.
In the summons, Dr Mahathir sought to declare any report by the RCI, set up under the Royal Commission of Inquiry Act 1950, was legal and in order only if it had all the written statements by the witnesses who testified in the proceedings, notes of the proceedings, the submissions and the findings.
He claimed that the report was illegal, incomplete and defective as it lacked notes of the proceedings, and written and oral submissions through transcription or video recording.