CHERAS: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin says he will not retract his statement claiming that Lim Guan Eng was responsible for revoking a tax exemption which was given to Yayasan Al-Bukhary.
The former prime minister said the onus was on Lim to provide an explanation.
"Why should I retract my statement? Instead of asking me to retract or apologise, Lim should explain why he, as then-finance minister in charge of the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) was not the one who should be responsible for having revoked the tax exemption for Yayasan Al-Bukhary, which had earlier received an exemption from the previous government," said Muhyiddin at a media conference after the Bersatu annual general assembly at Menara PGRM here today (March 12).
The Perikatan Nasional chairman and Bersatu president was asked for his response to Lim's statement that legal action would be taken if Muhyiddin does not retract and apologise to Lim by Wednesday (March 15).
On March 11, Lim denied issuing any order to revoke tax exemption for Yayasan Al-Bukhary which had been approved by the previous Barisan government.
Muhyiddin alleged that Lim, who is also DAP chairman, was responsible as the finance minister in 2018 on the decision to reapply taxation and another 45% penalty tax on Yayasan Al-Bukhary, which had earlier received exemption for charitable donations.
On March 10, Muhyiddin was charged with four counts of abuse of power for using his position as prime minister when his party allegedly obtained gratification of RM232.5mil in bribes from corporate entities.
He also faced two more charges of money laundering, wherein his party received RM195mil out of the total sum from illegal activities.
According to the charges, the money was deposited into Bersatu's bank accounts in bribes from three companies and an individual.
The companies are Bukhary Equity Sdn Bhd, Nepturis Sdn Bhd, and Mamfor Sdn Bhd, while the individual is one Datuk Azman Yusoff.
For the remaining two charges, he was charged with receiving proceeds from illegal activities amounting to RM195mil out of the RM232.5mil from Bukhary Equity.
TAGS
Muhyiddin Yassin, Lim Guan Eng, Yayasan Al-Bukhary, Finance Minister, Tax Exemption
