Lim urges Najib to tell the truth

GEORGE TOWN: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has urged his predecessor to come clean over the “missing” RM18bil Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds.

He said he was shocked by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s claim that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government could have spent the money in the Federal Government Consolidated Fund to cover expenses when it zero rated the GST from June 1.

“The RM18bil shortfall in refunds is not incurred within one month, but built up over three years since April 1, 2015.

“Further, the RM18bil shortfall is as of May 31 this year. Can Najib prove his claim that the new PH government was able to spend RM18bil in only three weeks?

“Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was sworn in on May 10 while I was sworn in on May 21.

“The accusation by Najib defies logic,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Take action: Rembau Member of Parliament Khairy Jamaluddin speaking to reporters after lodging a police report on the allegations by Lim over the RM18bil ‘robbery’ at Sentul District Police Headquarters. — Bernama

An English daily had earlier quoted Najib as saying that what probably happened was that when the Pakatan zero rated the GST, businesses rushed to get back their input tax credit.

But with the Pakatan government losing its income from GST collection for three months, and the Sales and Service Tax (SST) has yet to be implemented, Najib said it was possible the government used money from the consolidated fund to cover its monthly expenses.

Earlier this week, Lim told the Dewan Rakyat that about RM18bil in GST collection that was due for refund to businesses since the implementation of the tax in 2015 was not in the Customs trust account.

Former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Siregar Abdullah then refuted allegations that the money was “missing” and stated that all proceeds from the GST collection have been put into the Federal Government Consolidated Fund.

The amount of the GST refunds is transferred to the trust account in stages based on the requirements of the Customs Department and the government’s financial position.

On Friday, Customs director-general Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy said that since the implementation of the GST on April 1, 2015, the department had claimed RM82.9bil from the consolidated fund, but only RM63.5bil was given, leaving a shortfall of RM19.4bil.

Lim said the refunds were not transferred and paid back to the taxpayers.

He alleged the previous government had recognised such payments as revenue and used it to cover up their deficit, or pay for both operational and development expenses.

“This is wrong because the refunds are not government money or revenue to be used as the government deems fit. They are taxpayers’ money that must be returned to them,” he said.

Lim said a full report of the internal inquiry headed by the new Treasury secretary-general Datuk Seri Ismail Bakar would be submitted.

“A proposal will then be made to both the Prime Minister (Dr Mahathir) and Cabinet to conduct an open inquiry headed by independent professionals.

“The Finance Ministry will also co-operate with any authorities investigating this matter,” he said.