Najib says not first time Dr M 'shocked', cites Guan Eng's case, forex probe

This is not the first time Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has expressed shock, according to Najib Abdul Razak.

He was commenting on Mahathir stating he was shocked to learn that Najib was stunned because the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered the latter to enter his defence instead of acquitting him on the charges related to SRC International Sdn Bhd.

“The seventh PM was also shocked last year when MACC issued a statement that the commission was shocked that (Finance Minister) Lim Guan Eng's corruption case was withdrawn,” he added.

Commenting on MACC's statement regarding the Penang High Court's decision to acquit Lim last year, the premier said the commission was entitled to express surprise over the development.

“They (MACC) have a right to be shocked. If they want to be shocked, they can be shocked. I am also shocked,” he had said.

Lim, who was the former Penang chief minister, and businessperson Phang Li Koon, were acquitted on corruption charges over the alleged conversion of land status and the purchase of a bungalow below market value.

Meanwhile, Najib, in a Facebook posting, also took a jab at Lim's father, Kit Siang, over Bank Negara Malaysia's foreign exchange losses in the 1990s.

The former premier said he believes the DAP veteran was also shocked when the Pakatan Harapan government decided there would be “no further action” over the findings of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the matter.

Speaking to Malaysiakini later, Najib said: “Until today, not a single person has been held responsible for the RM33 billion losses in Bank Negara's money which is now worth RM100 billion.”

“And we never will as the police report which was recommended by the RCI has now been cancelled and the case classified as NFA (no further action),” he added.

In July, Najib criticised Kit Siang's silence on the matter, pointing out that the latter had spoken extensively on the forex losses in the past and even demanded an RCI.

He said the Iskandar Puteri MP also penned a book titled “The Bank Negara RM30 Billion Forex Losses Scandal.”

The RCI found that Bank Negara lost RM31.5 billion in forex trading between 1992 and 1994, and opined that this “excessive” and “speculative” trading amounted to a criminal breach of trust under Sections 406 and 409 of the Penal Code.

The commission recommended that then PM Mahathir and his deputy Anwar Ibrahim to be investigated to determine whether they had concealed facts from the cabinet.

Mahathir's lawyer Hanif Khatri Abdulla accused the RCI report of being “half-baked” for failing to include documents supplied by Mahathir for its hearing.

In July, de facto Law Minister Liew Vui Keong said the police report, lodged in November 2017, on the RCI findings was retracted due to a lack of documentary evidence of the alleged misconduct.