A-G’s Report on Sabah may not be clearly projected

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s real financial standing might not be clearly projected in the AuditorGeneral’s Report as 1MDB was once declared as good in its 2017 books too, said Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.

The Sabah opposition has claimed that the previous administration was vindicated by the Auditor-General’s 2017 Series 2 Report, which stated that Sabah’s financial standing for 2017 was good and the State Consolidated Fund rose by RM390.64 million or 16.2% to RM2.80 billion in 2017, compared to RM2.41 billion in 2016.

The fund also recorded a surplus of RM56.66 million in 2017, resulting in the accumulated balance rising to RM3.80 billion or 1.5%.

“In 2017, the report by the A-G at that time said that 1MDB was good. But now, you know what 1MDB is all about. How do we know everything if it is not stated? How many agencies have suffered losses? How many know that we have to pay maintenance for the Chief Minister’s building in a period of five year lease, RM132 million,” he said after the 23rd Sabah State District Officers Conference here yesterday.

“Every year we have to pay (more than) RM2 million. That is a lot. It is better if I build a new building. But, yes, not everything can be picked or audited. There is a lot more that I could tell. We (in the past) invested RM700 million in Benta Wawasan, now only left RM25 million.

“No, I am not disputing the report, of course, bolehlah. But did they dispute about 1MDB before?” questioned the Parti Warisan President.