BN govt stole GST refunds: Guan Eng
FINANCE Minister Lim Guan Eng accused the Barisan Nasional (BN) government of stealing the money gained from the GST refunds instead of depositing it into a trust fund.
“The refunds were supposed to be paid according to the law in two weeks, but they have not been paid in two years, because the money which was paid as an advance was not put into a trust fund, but into a consolidated fund as revenue. Because it was taken as revenue, it was used for expenditure by the former government,” he said.
“I want to say here, it was not robbing GST, but robbing from GST refunds,” he said in the Dewan yesterday when he was debating the SST.
“That is why people have not received their refunds. People were supposed to get their refunds in two weeks but it’s been two years and some people are still waiting,” he said.
Lim said that the amount involved was not a small amount and that he would reveal this in a press conference tomorrow (today).
This prompted Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) to ask for proof.
“You make such accusations, you must prove it too,” he told Lim.
“This is a serious robbery, where money which was supposed to be in trust funds was spent by the government,” he said.
“How can the government now pay those refunds when the money is not there?” he asked.
Meanwhile, after the sales tax bill passed through its second reading in the August house, Ronald Kiandee (BN-Beluran) moved a motion to move the sales tax bill to a select committee.
The motion was, however, rejected after a bloc vote with 111 votes against 51 votes for the motion while four abstained, making it the first bloc vote the Pakatan Harapan has won.