Dr M: I have never made any formal apologies to Anwar

The government is unlikely to cut tax rates due to the RM1 trillion debt and liabilities as well as lower revenue collection from SST.

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) has clarified that he has never apologised to his former deputy Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was sacked and arrested for corrupt practices and sodomy in 1998.

"I didn't tell him that, but other people put words into my mouth because they want me to apologise, but I have never made any formal apologies to him," he said during an interview with the BBC programme HARDtalk.

Dr Mahathir was responding to the host, Zeinab Badawi, who said Anwar, who is PKR president-elect, in an interview with the BBC back in June had said that the premier had acknowledged that he had made a mistake and that he wanted to make amends.

"Well, that is his opinion," said Dr Mahathir. Anwar was found guilty of corruption and sodomy in 1999 and jailed, but his sentence was overturned in 2004.

The prime minister said he regretted that Anwar had to be sentenced to jail, but that he would not be taking the blame for it as the matter was "decided by the court".

He had also reiterated his stance that he played no part in putting Anwar in jail.

He added that when he decided to work with Anwar prior to the 14th General Election, he pointed out that they both had decided to forget about the past and focus on current issues.

On the matter of corruption, Dr Mahathir said that he would not accept the blame for the state of corruption that is plaguing the country.

"If I have to accept the blame, then all governments must accept the blame because corruption is found everywhere to some degree. There is no country that can boast that it has no corruption at all," he said.

Dr Mahathir said no blame should be put on the country's system, as the system was the same but the man helming it was different.

He pointed out that the five prime ministers before former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had "no accusation of corruption on that scale".

However, Dr Mahathir said the system could be "abused", as what Najib did where he used his authority to steal money.

When asked about the billions lost when back he was in power, Dr Mahathir admitted that the country did lose money on trading and currency, but that it was not him that lost the money.

"It wasn't me. I couldn't take the blame for somebody being corrupt," he said.