Stop beating around the bush, Lim tells Najib
KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has urged former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to stop beating around the bush on how the funds left to the current government were reduced to RM450 million from RM11.86 billion.
“He couldn’t even answer that. And when asked, he tries to avoid it by telling me ‘Oh, you should know’.
“He did not seem to understand the differences between Consolidated Fund and Consolidated Revenue Account.
“How can someone who was finance minister for 10 years not know the difference?” Lim said on the sidelines of the Rehda Institute CEO Series 2018 here.
He was responding to 17 questions by Najib on Facebook.
On Sunday, Najib lashed out at Lim over the latter’s statement, which urged the former to explain the drastic drop in the government’s Consolidated Revenue Account.
“Isn’t it true, as I have explained twice before, that it would be impossible for the Consolidated Revenue Account to have a balance of RM450 million as at the end of April this year as there is always a buffer of two months for the payment of salaries and pensions of around RM8 billion a month?” Najib asked.
Other questions raised by Najib included whether it was true that the government had lost RM30 billion or more because of the zero-rating of the Goods and Services Tax for three months and the reintroduction of subsidies since the 14th General Election, and whether the prices of goods had risen following the reintroduction of the Sales and Services Tax.
“If he doesn’t understand or pretends not to understand, or doesn’t want to admit that he is wrong, how can I answer all the other questions?” Lim said.