KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 19): Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, who was one of the witnesses called by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into BNM's 1990s foreign exchange (forex) scandal, has quit from his post as deputy chairman of Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

In a statement, Khazanah said Nor Mohamed submitted his resignation during a meeting today, and will effectively relinquish his post and exit the sovereign wealth fund's board of directors on Sept 30.

No successor was named in the statement.

Nor Mohamed, 70, has served on Khazanah's board of directors for 15 years, making him its longest-serving board member and the only deputy chairman in its 23-year history.

"Nor Mohamed has been instrumental to the success of numerous initiatives, including the revamp and transformation of Khazanah from 2004 to the present day," said Khazanah.

This includes the 10-year Government-Linked Companies (GLC) Transformation Programme from 2004 to 2015, the development of various economic corridors including Iskandar Malaysia, as well as the formation of Yayasan Hasanah and Khazanah Research Institute, it said.

"These initiatives and others were executed in his capacity as a Khazanah board member, and in various capacities in public service, including as Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister from 2000 to 2003, Minister of Finance II between 2004 and 2009, and [as] Minister in Prime Minister's Department, Economic Planning Unit from 2009 to 2013," it added.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also Khazanah chairman, said Khazanah's board of directors "accepts his decision" and "we wish him well".

He also thanked Nor Mohamed for his contribution to Khazanah, "in particular for his work on the 10-year GLC Transformation Programme, which was led by the Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance".

Nor Mohamed was the 17th of 25 witnesses called by the RCI in its probe into the forex losses suffered by the central bank in the 1990s.

He served as Bank Negara Malaysia's banking department manager between 1986 and 1994, and was responsible for external reserves management at the time. Subsequently, Nor Mohamed was appointed as adviser to the central bank from September 1998 to April 2000.

The central bank allegedly suffered losses to the tune of some RM31.5 billion from forex trading between 1990 and 1994.

The inquiry was concluded today and the RCI panel is now expected to submit its findings to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Oct 13.