by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, 20th July 1993:
DAP will continue to ‘pursue’ the Union Paper shares scandal in Parliament until Finance Minister, Anwar Ibrahim gives an acceptable and satisfactory reply
I am not satisfied with the reply given by the Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, on the Union Paper Holding Bhd, shares scandal in Parliament yesterday.
Although Anwar Ibrahim gave an assurance that action would be taken against all involved in manipulating suspended Union Paper shares regardless of who they are, public confidence in such an assurance cannot be high in view of the record of the government on shares manipulation, rigging and fraud in the past.
Anwar said that four regulatory agencies are investigating the Union Paper shares scandal, the KLSE, the Securities Commission, Registrar of Companies and the Police.
The more important question is who is investigating the KLSE and the Securities Commission for their role in the Union Paper shares scandal?
There is no doubt that the KLSE must bear a great part of the blame for the Union Paper shares scandal, in the way it declared Union Paper ‘designated securities’ on June 28, declaring that Union paper shares had been ‘cornered’ and suspending trading on June 29, the fixing of the ‘buying-in’ price at RM15.20 and the manner the ‘buying-in’ of 3,315 million Union Pacer- shares was conducted on July 9.
It. is no exaggeration to say that public confidence in the KLSE is virtually nil after the scandalous press conference by the KLSE Chairman, Datuk Nik Mohamad Din on 13th July, playing the role of ‘apologist’ for the short-sellers who manipulated the Union Paper shares, even claiming that he did not know the 12 “defaulting sellers” when the person who ‘defaulted’ by over a million shares is a very prominent Tan Sri.
DAP will continue to ‘pursue1 the Union Paper shares issue in Parliament until Anwar gives an acceptable and satisfactory answer in Parliament on what the government is doing to wipe out the image of the KLSE as a casino, and in particular what actions are being taken against, the regulatory agencies which allowed the Union Paper scandal to take place, like KLSE and the Securities Commission.