By Syauqi Jamil
KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers today backed Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin in lodging a police report on the allegedly ‘missing’ Goods and Services Tax (GST) repayment fund.
Khairy earlier lodged a police report at the Sentul police headquarters based on Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s claim that the previous BN government had “robbed” some RM18 billion in GST refund claims.
Coming to Parliament directly after lodging the report, Khairy said that the accusation made against BN was very serious and had depicted a misappropriation in the previous administration.
He said an internal investigation which will be conducted by the MoF will not suffice as ‘robbery’ is a big crime, something that the previous administration want nothing to do with.
“I’ve lodged a police report to initiate an investigation on the accusation to get a confirmation if such claims are real or not.”
“I will also lodge a report with the MACC (Malaysia Anti Corruption Commission) as such robbery too have elements of bribery. We hope these investigations will not be interrupted by the government,” he said.
Speaking in a press conference in Parliament here, Khairy said Lim upon several time queried, failed to give a proper breakdown of how much amount that wasn’t paid on purpose.
He added, this goes to show that the serious allegation were made without being backed by detailed informations.
“If its true that there were misappropriation taking place, refunds were not done via input tax, then those responsible must brought to justice.”
“But if it didn’t happen and there’s a viable explanation that can be accepted then the truth must be told to the people. We can’t accept being told we have stolen RM18 billion from taxpayers,” he said.
Among those present during the conference was Bera MP Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Jeli MP Mustapa Mohamed, Pontian MP Ahmad Maslan, Beluran MP Ronald Kiandee and Kuala Kangsar MP Mastura Mohd Yazid.
Yesterday, Lim revealed that a whopping amount of roughly RM18 billion were missing from the GST Repayment Fund, adding that the previous BN government had ‘robbed the rakyat of their money’.
The Bagan MP said based on the Customs Department record, the sum of overdue GST refund currently sits at RM19.4 billion but stated that the current balance in the Repayment Fund is only around RM1.5 billion.
