KUALA LUMPUR: In a rare admission of his past mistakes, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad conceded that he lost public money during his time as prime minister, but stressed that the losses were not as bad as the amounts going missing under the current administration.

In a blog posting yesterday, Dr Mahathir attempted to defend some of the ill-fated decisions of his 22-year administration in a bid to counter the argument that he should not criticise Najib’s mistakes such as the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal.

“I admit that during my time there was also loss of the country’s funds. But the public and the world knows how the money went missing,” Dr Mahathir wrote in his blog posting yesterday.

He then briefly explained some of the financial scandals during his tenure such as Perwaja Steel, Bank Bumiputera Finance and the Maminco affair, which cost the country billions of ringgit in losses.

“What is clear is that the country knew where the money was being invested in during my time. In business there are times when you make profits and times when you accrue losses.

“What cannot be accepted is that the money vanishes without a trace,” he wrote.

Dr Mahathir countered the argument that just like Najib and businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, he had put his own friends such as Tun Daim Zainuddin into positions of power.

“[A critic] compares Low Taek Jho and my critique of him with the criticism against me regarding Ananda Krishnan’s involvement in Petronas and the appointment of my friend Daim Zainuddin as Finance Minister. I really do not see any similarity.”

The former prime minister is facing a barrage of criticism for his unrelenting attacks against Najib and his call for the latter to resign.

In response, he said the losses suffered by Perwaja Steel and Bank Bumiputera Finance have been quantified.

He also attempted to explain the losses in the Maminco affair.

On the 1MDB deal, Dr Mahathir said no legitimate answer was given on why it had chalked up debts of RM42 billion, and why the government paid consultant Goldman Sachs a 10% commission to issue a government bond. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 8, 2015.