‘The pot calls the kettle black’

PETALING JAYA: Lim Guan Eng has used the same method he is now accusing the former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak of to “reduce” Penang’s debt by 95% when he was Chief Minister, said Gerakan.

Its secretary-general Liang Teck Meng said at that time, Lim had converted a RM655mil state debt into a 45-year annual lease payment of RM14.55mil and passing this off as operating expenses.

“Lim claimed that the lease payments were just normal operating expenses and not debt and should not be included in the state debt calculations,” he said in a statement here yesterday.

Liang said, however, after being appointed as Finance Minister, Lim now accused Najib of hiding the actual value of debts because he did not include the lease payments for public amenities such as schools, hospitals and police stations.

The war of words between Lim and Najib triggered after Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that the national debt figure now stood at RM1 trillion.

Lim then said that the RM1 trillion debt included total government debt, government guarantees and lease payments for public-private partnerships (PPP).

Najib then hit back, pointing out that Lim’s remarks actually confirmed that the national debt remained at RM686.8bil, accounting for 50.8% of the Gross Domestic Product.

Yesterday, Bernama also reported Najib as saying that he had been advised not to respond to Lim’s queries over 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) as authorities had stated that investigations were still ongoing.

In a two paragraph statement, Najib said in this limited context, he also did not see any benefit in engaging in a public discourse with Lim on the issues.

“I will – when and if necessary –address the issues at the relevant forum,” he said.

On Sunday, Lim said that Najib, who is also former Finance Minister, must be held responsible and accountable for the 1MDB scandal.

He also raised more questions on investments worth US$8.33bil (RM33.15bil) made by 1MDB between 2009 and 2013 and asked Najib to account for several transactions.