High Court sets Aug 28 to hear Dr M’s bid to cancel forex RCI findings

KUALA LUMPUR, 25 Jun — Lawyers representing Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his lawsuit to nullify the Royal Commission of Inquiry’s (RCI) findings on Bank Negara’s foreign exchange losses in the 1990s are still waiting for instruction whether to continue or withdraw the suit.

One of the lawyers, Mohd Irzan Iswatt Mohd Noor, said the lead counsel, Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, was still not able to meet the prime minister to obtain further instruction on the matter.

“We are not able to meet with Dr Mahathir yet. We are still waiting for his instruction to either continue the case, or otherwise,” he said, adding that the court today fixed Aug 28 to hear an application for preliminary objection by the defendants.

He told this to reporters after management of the case before High Court judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi.

Also present was senior federal counsel Mazlifah Ayob, who represented the defendants named in the suit, comprising RCI members — Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, Datuk Wira Kamaludin Md Said, Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan, Tan Sri Saw Choo Boon, K.Pushpanathanan, Datuk Dr Yusof Ismail — and former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the cabinet members and the government.

Dr Mahathir filed the suit in December 2017 seeking to declare the report by RCI on Bank Negara Malaysia’s forex trading losses as null and void as it excluded legal documents of witnesses and notes of proceeding

He is seeking to declare the RCI’s report on the Bank Negara’s losses due to forex trading in the 1990s was illegal, incomplete and defective as it lacked proceeding notes, and written and oral submissions through transcription or video recording.

He is also seeking a declaration that any report by a Royal Commission of Inquiry set up Commission of Enquiry Act 1950 would only be legal and in order if it had all the written statements by the witnesses who testified in the proceeding, the proceeding notes, the submissions, and the findings. — Bernama