TABUNG HARAPAN CLOSES AT RM202 MILLION

Contributions made after Jan 14 will be returned, says finance minister

MALAYSIANS have contributed RM202,716,775.10 to Tabung Harapan Malaysia since its launch on May 30.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said Tabung Harapan Malaysia was closed on Jan 14 after the cabinet agreed to extend the deadline for contributions from Jan 1.

“The two-week extension was decided by the cabinet on Jan 2 based on positive response from the people,” the minister said in a statement yesterday.

Lim said contributions made after Jan 14 would not be credited to the fund’s account and the money would be returned.

He said the ministry was in the process of closing the Tabung Harapan Malaysia account, which will be audited by the Auditor General’s Department.

Lim said to ensure that the collection would be managed with transparency and integrity, an accounts committee chaired by Treasury secretary-general Datuk Ahmad Badri Mohd Zahir was formed.

The committee would decide on how the funds would be used according to the procedures listed in the Tabung Harapan Malaysia trust deed, he added.

Lim said that the government expressed its gratitude to Malaysians who had done their part in helping it pay off a portion of its inherited debt.

“Such gestures have encouraged the government to work harder in settling the debt we inherited.”

The two-week extension was decided by the cabinet on Jan 2 based on positive response from the people.” LIM GUAN ENG

Finance minister