Tun Daim: 'It's (Bank Negara's trading in forex) rubbish. That's not their role'
LIDIANA ROSLI, KHAIRAH N KARIM and HANA NAZ HARUN
New Straits TimesSeptember 18, 2017
PUTRAJAYA: Former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin has described Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) foreign exchange (forex) trading in the 1990s as "rubbish".
He said he would have stopped it if he had known about it. Speaking to reporters after taking the stand before the Royal Commission of Inquiry, Daim said it was not the central bank's role to trade in forex. "It's rubbish. That's not their (BNM's) role. Their role is to protect our currency and reserves.
"If I knew I would have stopped it," he said outside the Palace of Justice, here.
Daim, who was finance minister from 1984 to 1991, also said the onus was on BNM to inform the ministry of the trading. Daim was the second witness to testify today and the 23rd witness overall in the 10-day inquiry to investigate the billions that BNM had lost in forex trading.
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