Explain 96% drop in consolidated account, Guan Eng urges Najib

PUTRAJAYA: Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak should explain why the consolidated revenue account had dropped by 96% or RM11.41bil between Dec 31, 2017 and April 30, 2018, says Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

In a statement, Lim said Najib left the new Pakatan Harapan government only RM450mil on April 30, 2018.

“The total of RM11.86bil in the consolidated account as at Dec 31, 2017 had dropped to RM450mil as at April 30 due to overspending in the four-month period from January 2018 to April 2018. Clearly, this was ‘general election expenses’ to help Barisan Nasional win the 14th General Election,” he said.

Lim noted that government regulations permit only the consolidated account to be used for management expenditure.

“Imagine only RM450mil was available for paying emoluments and pensions, when in fact the government needs over RM8bil a month for this expenditure alone,” he said.

Lim also questioned why Najib was at a loss to understand what constitutes a consolidated revenue account despite having held the post of Finance Minister for 10 years.

Lim said Najib should not lie about the actual fiscal position by saying that Barisan had left the new administration tens of billions of ringgit when in reality only RM450mil was left.