Bank Negara has already begun its probe on claims that Malaysia was a hub for illicit financial outflows, said Deputy Finance Minister Donald Lim.

donald lim Lim ( left ) said that the government will establish how Washington-based group Global Financial Integrity (GFI) derived such conclusions.

“We want to know how they found out and what were their sources,” said Lim when contacted yesterday.

He said that a thorough investigation is being undertaken by Bank Negara and the public can expect a response soon.

However, Lim subtly cast doubts on the veracity of the report.

“Most of the time, all (outflow of) funds and transactions are registered (with the Finance Ministry),” said Lim.

GFI’s latest report released last week said that Malaysia was ranked fifth in terms of global illicit financial outflow for the year 2008.

Lim: Why now?

NONE The report said that such outflows have more than tripled since 2000 to RM208 billion in 2008.

Lim also questioned GFI’s motive and asked why the group did not raise the matter earlier since monitoring had been going on since 2000.

“It was such a long, long time ago. If they were to state this information and ask back in 2005, then okay. But now?” he said.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has refused comment on the matter when quizzed by reporters on the matter on Friday, instead saying that Bank Negara was the proper authority to respond.

On Sunday, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said that the authorities must investigate the allegations or else the federal government would be perceived as hiding the wrongdoers.