The RCI’s five-man panel rejected Daim’s claim, saying documents classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) were still accessible to ministers and that the central bank was under the finance ministry headed by him.
“Yes, but in this case they didn’t inform me, so I didn’t know,” Daim replied.
“If they chose not to inform me, what could I do? Central banks around the world, whether in the United States or Australia, they are all independent.
“We don’t question their decisions. They decide and we don’t interfere. Their role is to inform me. If they don’t, how would I know?”
Daim, who was finance minister from 1984 to 1991, said the ministry had chosen the best candidates to lead the central bank and had relied on their expertise.
He added that there were over 1,000 agencies under his ministry and that he alone couldn’t have known everything these agencies were doing.
“That’s why we relied on the audited reports,” he said.
RCI chairman Mohd Sidek Hassan then pointed out to Daim that it was impossible for him not to have known about it as the matter had been widely reported.
“True, it was widely reported, but Bank Negara kept on denying it. They said they were defending the currency,” Daim said in response.
“You put people in charge, and you don’t know until later that they did not do their work.
“If I had known about it, I would’ve stepped in and sacked those responsible for it.”
Sidek then cited his experience as a former chief secretary to the government, saying he too could not have known everything taking place in the civil service.
“But I would have expected to be informed about things that affected and that had an impact on the nation.”
To this, Daim said there was no market talk on the forex trading at the time.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Daim said it was easy for the tribunal to point out mistakes “30 years later”.
“As I’ve said, we’re all brilliant after that.”
Asked why the forex trading was not stopped when he resigned in 1991, Daim said it was because nobody knew about it.
“Even the auditor-general didn’t tell me. They were supposed to come and see me. Everybody must be responsible to the country.
“When you see something wrong, why don’t you come report it to me? Instead, you place it under the OSA,” he said.
A total of 23 witnesses have testified in the RCI proceedings, including former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who also served as finance minister under Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The RCI has been tasked with getting to the bottom of the forex losses of US$10 billion (about RM25 billion based on the exchange rate at the time) incurred by the central bank between 1991 and 1993.
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