Azman Mat Ali made the remark in response to a question by RCI member Saw Choo Boon who asked if whether at anytime the prime minister or any minister had entered the room in BNM.
Later, RCI conducting officer Suhaimi Ibrahim followed up with another question to the witness asking whether he was aware of Mahathir visiting the BNM trading room in London when opening the premises.
“I have no idea of Mahathir officiating the room there,” Azman replied.
It is not clear if Mahathir was in London as the exact date or year was not revealed during today’s proceedings.
Questioned by Mahathir’s lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, Azman, who is now BNM forex administration department director, said he would not know details such as, how many people accompanied the former prime minister to London.
“There is no need to know,” he said, adding that he (Azman) was only posted to London in 2010.
Azman, 54, who started work as a forex dealer in BNM in 1988, said he was involved in buying and selling foreign currencies as directed by the central bank management.
In his witness statement, Azman also revealed that he was responsible to then chief dealers Lim Tam Mee, Selvaraj (no initial) and Chua Tiong Chin from 1989 to 1995.
“I was also answerable to Mohamed Nor Yakcop who was the manager of BNM’s banking department and an adviser to the top management,” Azman said.
He said there were three dealers, including himself, and their maximum level for forex trading per day was between US$5 million and US$10 million.
Azman said he could not recall specifically the highest transaction per day but it could have been in several US billion dollars.
“I am not able to answer if forex trading conducted by the dealers between 1990 and 1994 was speculative in nature,” he said.
Witnesses who had earlier testified told the tribunal the losses suffered by BNM during this period was about RM30.5 billion.
Azman said between 1990 and 1994, all forex dealings were conducted manually and there was no proper check and balance mechanism in place.
“To my knowledge, apart from Nor Mohamed, there was no other top management in BNM who had the expertise in forex trading,” Azman said.
He said according to the bank’s administrative ladder, Nor Mohamed was to report to the then deputy governor Lin See Yan and governor, the late Jaffar Hussein.