KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — Lynas Malaysia did not pay single sen in corporate taxes as it had been given tax-exempt status by the government for 12 years, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang said today.
“Since Lynas’ operations in 2012, not a single sen of corporate taxes have been paid because the government had given it tax-exempt status for 12 years,” he said in his winding-up speech at Parliament.
He was responding to a question from Tebrau MP Jimmy Puah Wee Tse.
Besides that, he added that the confidence of foreign investors would not be shaken by the Malaysian government maintaining the conditions that prevented the Australian miner from importing and processing rare earth materials in the country starting July this year.
He said Many foreign investors had expressed their interest to invest in Malaysia after the decision.
“What foreign investors need most is a certainty,” he said, adding that the second most important thing to them is consistency.
He explained that the government was providing both certainty and consistency in reaffirming the decision it had made in 2020.
“If the government makes one decision in 2020 and a different one in 2023, this would be seen as flip-flopping.
“Flip-flopping is not good for the business community,” he said.
He also clarified that the government is not closing down Lynas Malaysia’s operations, but merely not allowing its request to the government to drop the conditions imposed on it in 2020.
Last Wednesday (February 15), Chang confirmed that the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) has renewed Lynas’s license for another three years starting from March 3 this year to March 3, 2026.
However, the licence could be revoked if it does not comply with four conditions that have been set out by the government, he warned.
The four conditions are cracking and leaching activities, the generation of water leach purification (WLP) residues and the importation of lanthanide concentrates from Australia.
