PUTRAJAYA: Top civil servants and ministers are those who should be called up to provide information on the 1990s Bank Negara’s forex losses said Lim Kit Siang today.
The DAP adviser said that he was never involved with the central bank’s forex dealings and that all of the information he knew about the issue were already public information as they were stated in his speeches in the Parliament in 1993 and 1994.
“I stand by my speech in Parliament in April 1994 calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the colossal Bank Negara’s forex losses,” he said.
Lim added that they need to ascertain whether there have been any financial malpractices and abuses, and to establish as to how the central bank could incur such colossal losses.
“I think the key lesson of the forex losses a quarter of century ago is the failure of ministers, top civil servants, MPs and even the press to play their respective role to uphold the principles of accountability and good governance,” he said.
Lim was speaking to the reporters at the Finance Ministry complex here today, where he spent about 40 minutes meeting with a special task force probing on Bank Negara’s forex losses. He was accompanied by his lawyer, Ram Karpal Singh.