Speech (Part 2) by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the Johore DAP State Committee to review Party Reform held at DAP Taman Ungku Tunku Aminah branch, Johore Bahru on Saturday, 29th February 1992 at 4 p.m.
DAP reiterates call for Royal Commission of Inquiry into the $2.5 billion BMF Scandal after $8 billion suit against BBMB in California Federal Court
The US$3 billion (about M$8 billion) suit against Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Bhd. (BBMB) by Sinclair Nominess in the Federal Court of Carlifornia in connection with the $2.5 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) Scandal confirmed my 1986 statement in the book, ‘BMF – The Scandal of Scandals’, that despite the 18 volumes of reports and exhibits of the Ahmad Nordin Inquiry Committee, the full story of the BMF scandals has not been told.
Sinclair Nominees, a shareholder of the collapsed Hong Kong-based Carrian Group, had filed the suit against Bank Bumiputra for damages, alleging that BBMB adversely affected the value of shares held by them in Carrian by colluding with Carrian to buy up California properties owned by the latter at around US$200 million (about M$540 million) below their market value.
It has been reported that the BBMB lawyers will file a formal reply to Sinclair Nominees’ US$3 billion damages suit next Friday and preliminary hearings will be held by the California Federal Court in April.
It is about ten years since the BMF scandal first erupted, and the ghosts of the BMF scandal have refused to rest. Malaysians are every now and then reminded of the BMF scandal, particularly the long-standing extradition battles of the former BMF Chairman, Lorraine Osman, from the Pentoville Prison in London – making him the longest serving remand prisoner in British legal history.
In the 1990 general elections, the BMF scandal was used as part of the ‘dirty tricks’ campaign by the Barisan Nasional.
Many questions about the BMF scandal remain unanswered, especially why the Malaysian authorities are not asking for the extradition of Lorraine Osman to put him on trial.
DAP reiterates its call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the BMF Scandal. If the Government leaders have nothing to hide, why is the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, and the present Cabinet so adamant in refusing to commissioning a full public inquiry into the BMF scandal?