Najib and Irwan to face PAC next week over GST refunds

DATUK Seri Najib Tun Razak’s date with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over the “missing” RM19.4bil Good and Services Tax (GST) credit returns has been rescheduled along with that of ex-Treasury secretarygeneral Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah.

It is learnt that Irwan will now make an appearance before the PAC on Oct 23 and Najib a day after.

PAC chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee confirmed that the two men were slated to appear before the committee next week.

It was reported that based on a statement, Irwan was to have testified on Monday and Najib yesterday.

However, it was learnt that Dr Kiandee later issued another statement to PAC members that the dates had been rescheduled.

No reason was given but Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in as Port Dickson MP on Monday.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng will also come before the committee on Oct 30.

In August, the Dewan Rakyat was told that the previous government had not been able to refund companies their tax credits from GST because 93% of the funds were not placed in the correct account.

Lim had alleged that some RM18bil of the RM19.4bil input tax credit under the GST was “robbed” by the previous administration.

He said as of May 31, the outstanding GST refunds stood at RM19.39bil whereas there was only a balance of RM1.486bil in the repayment fund.

Under the GST, businesses were allowed to reclaim credit for taxes paid on purchases, subject to the filing of input tax documents.