DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang wants a RCI probe on the financial scandals during Dr Mahathir Mohamad's time.
PETALING JAYA: A Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) should be established to get to the bottom of the financial scandals during the administration of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.
On Saturday, Lim asked for a full audit of all financial scandals during Mahathir’s 22-year tenure. He said that this was important because the current government does not seem to have learnt any lesson from those scandals.
This comes amid the controversial decision by the government to drop legal action against former Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) chief Tajudin Ramli who owed the government RM589 million. The sum of the settlement was undisclosed.
In 2001, the government spent about RM1.8 billion to buy back MAS shares from Tajudin, at RM8 per share instead of the market value of RM3.68. Mahathir had defended this bailout, saying that it was necessary to turn around the troubled airline.
Today, Mahathir welcomed Lim’s suggestion that he be audited, but added that it should not only be limited to him.
“All Tuns must be audited. The sons and grandsons of Tuns as well,” he said.
In an immediate reaction, Lim welcomed Mahathir’s “positive response”, saying that former finance minister Daim Zainuddin should be the first one to be audited.
“I will endorse Mahathir’s further defining the scope and extent of the investigation into the RM100 billion losses caused by the financial scandals when he was prime minister.
“The other Tun I can think of is Daim, who was Mahathir’s finance minister twice and played key role in many of the financial scandals in the Mahathir era,” said Lim.
Mahathir recently said that the media was only focusing on the losses the government suffered during his administration, implying that some responsibility should be shouldered by his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
For example, he pointed out the RM8 billion loss incurred after the double-tracking and electrification project between Johor and Padang Besar was cancelled during Abdullah’s tenure.
Lim today said that it was up to Mahathir to say if such losses under his successor should also be audited.
PETALING JAYA: A Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) should be established to get to the bottom of the financial scandals during the administration of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.On Saturday, Lim asked for a full audit of all financial scandals during Mahathir’s 22-year tenure. He said that this was important because the current government does not seem to have learnt any lesson from those scandals.
This comes amid the controversial decision by the government to drop legal action against former Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) chief Tajudin Ramli who owed the government RM589 million. The sum of the settlement was undisclosed.
In 2001, the government spent about RM1.8 billion to buy back MAS shares from Tajudin, at RM8 per share instead of the market value of RM3.68. Mahathir had defended this bailout, saying that it was necessary to turn around the troubled airline.
Today, Mahathir welcomed Lim’s suggestion that he be audited, but added that it should not only be limited to him.
“All Tuns must be audited. The sons and grandsons of Tuns as well,” he said.
In an immediate reaction, Lim welcomed Mahathir’s “positive response”, saying that former finance minister Daim Zainuddin should be the first one to be audited.
“I will endorse Mahathir’s further defining the scope and extent of the investigation into the RM100 billion losses caused by the financial scandals when he was prime minister.
“The other Tun I can think of is Daim, who was Mahathir’s finance minister twice and played key role in many of the financial scandals in the Mahathir era,” said Lim.
Mahathir recently said that the media was only focusing on the losses the government suffered during his administration, implying that some responsibility should be shouldered by his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
For example, he pointed out the RM8 billion loss incurred after the double-tracking and electrification project between Johor and Padang Besar was cancelled during Abdullah’s tenure.
Lim today said that it was up to Mahathir to say if such losses under his successor should also be audited.
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