Guan Eng: Is Najib passing the buck to Dr Irwan?

PETALING JAYA: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has indirectly asked former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak if the latter was passing the buck to former Treasury secretarygeneral Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar on the shortfall in refunds for income tax and Goods and Services Tax (GST).

He asked Najib if he would deny the allegations that were brought up when the police come to record his statement.

“If the police believe that Datuk Seri Najib did not give the approvals, then Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan will bear the wrongdoings.

“Not only the offence of criminal breach of trust but also abusing or exceeding his power by assuming the power of a minister.

“Only the Finance Minister has the power to give the approval for RM19.25bil not to be transferred into the GST refunds trust account or for the GST refunds not to be made within two weeks as stipulated by law,” Lim said in a statement yesterday.

He had recently thrown Najib – who was also the former finance minister – three questions, asking him if he had approved the decisions for GST refunds not to be made within two weeks, not to transfer the total of RM82.9bil which was requested by the Customs Department and only transfer RM63.5bil in 2015, and if Najib had given the approval for the amount of money for GST refunds that had not been paid since 2015 to be treated as a government revenue to be used arbitrarily.

Najib had on Friday, answered “no” to these three questions.

“It is hard to believe that a finance minister did not realise that as of May 31, there were 121,429 companies and individuals that did not receive their GST refunds since 2015, although the law says that refunds must be made within two weeks.

“At the same time, the previous administration also did not refund RM16bil to taxpayers as of May 31.

“Will Najib also claim that he did not know or was not involved in the decisions made, and that everything was decided by Dr Mohd Irwan at that time?” Lim asked.

The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) directorgeneral Datuk Seri Sabin Samitah confirmed on Friday that a total of RM16.046bil in excess income tax and real property gains tax has not been refunded to taxpayers for over six years involving 1,653,786 incidents consisting of companies, individuals, societies, associations and foundations.

He said the postponement was mainly due to inadequate funding in the Tax Refund Trust Fund (TRFT).

The IRB had requested the amount from the Cash Management Committee which held monthly meetings chaired by Dr Mohd Irwan but the amount was not transferred to the TRFT.