by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Sunday, July 24, 1994:
DAP supports proposal that Ghani Osman should sue Financial Times of London over the missing gold coin
DAP supports proposal that the Minister for Youth and Sports, Abdul Ghani Osman should take legal action against the Financial Times of London for alleging that the Minister received a gold coin worth US$10,000 as a bribe.
The Law Minister, Datuk Syed Hamid Albar, said in Kota Tinggi two days ago that the Cabinet would decide on Wednesday whether to file a criminal libel suit against Financial Times of London for its bribery allegation against Ghani.
I call on the Cabinet on Wednesday to decide to proceed with defamation proceedings against the Financial Times of London, whether in Ghani Othman’s personal capacity or in the name of the Cabinet.
I also stand by my call for a full inquiry into the missing gold coin in view of the disturbing discrepancies in the serious explanations given about the missing gold coin.
Firstly, it is difficult for the laymen to accept that a gold coin worth US$10,000 could be ‘misplaced’ and nobody knows where is this gold coin at present.
A 10-sen coin, 20-sen coin, 50-sen coin or RM1-coin could he easily misplaced, but how could a US$10,000 gold coin – the only one of its kinds in the country – be ‘misplaced’ and nobody knows its present whereabouts!
Furthermore, why was no police report made about the missing gold coin by Dr. Steven Goh, who admitted that Ghani had handed it to him for return to the Standard Chartered Mocatta bullion division. Even now, Dr. Steven Goh has not indicated that he is going to lodge a police report about the missing gold coin.
The statement by the Hong Kong-based Mocatta company that it had no knowledge of a person by the name of Dr. Steven Goh is another disturbing question, which should be cleared by a full inquiry into the missing gold coin.