KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng presented today documents purportedly of Kelantan’s request for a RM97 million federal loan to support his comments disparaging the state government’s financial health.
The Bagan MP said the documents substantiate his remarks that the Kelantan state requested federal financial aid to help pay the salaries of its civil servants, which he made when mocking the state government’s ability to take up the suspended East Coast Rail Link (ECRL).
Of the amount, he said the Pakatan Harapan government approved RM22.5 million to cover an application to settle RM24.5 million in expenses categorised as civil servants’ pay.
“This year, Kelantan had requested for advanced financial assistance to pay the salaries [of its civil servant] and this had been approved.
“This is a fact and I want to show this fact where Kelantan had asked for advanced payment because they stated they needed it to pay the salaries,” he told a press conference in Parliament, today.
Lim said Putrajaya had approved the RM22.5 million first as it had involved the salary of civil servants.
“The implication (of not approving) would cause the pay of civil servants to be late. We also want to see how the money management would be like.
“If we approve every request made, that would not be a wise management. We give what is needed first for the state government and recently, they have filed a new request,” he said.
Earlier this week, Lim’s statement that the Kelantan government had no money to pay its civil servants had caused a stir in the House, with Opposition MPs demanding he apologise for the statement.
Lim, however, defended his remark and cited a news report in January in which former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said Kelantan had depended on financial assistance from the former ruling government to pay its civil servants.
