KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — Parliament must censure Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng for claiming the Barisan Nasional government “robbed” the country of billions in Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds, Datuk Seri Najib Razak insisted today.
Commenting on the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) investigation report into Lim’s allegation, he said the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s response to the matter would demonstrate how faithful it was to the rule of law.
The PAC concluded that the missing RM19 billion Lim alleged was stolen from public coffers was the result of a projection error by the previous administration.
“If Guan Eng escapes punishment after this outrageous lie, then the people will doubt all responses that any Pakatan minister provides in Parliament,” he said on Facebook.
“We will see if the PH government practises the rule of law or the ‘rule of Guan Eng’.”
In July last year, Finance Minister Lim alleged in Parliament that the BN administration “robbed” the country of an estimated RM19 billion meant for GST refunds.
The PAC investigated the matter for 11 months starting last July and will table its report to Parliament today.
PAC chairman Datuk Noraini Ahmad pre-empted the tabling this morning with a statement saying her committee concluded that the shortfall was due to an overestimation of the net GST receipts by the BN government.
However, she said the BN administration failed to follow legal provisions by entering the funds into the Consolidated Account when these should have gone into the GST refund pool.
The PAC also found that the BN administration failed to allocate adequate money for the GST refunds.
