Where’s the money?

> Only RM450m left by BN to repay RM35.4b in tax refunds when Pakatan Harapan took over

PETALING JAYA: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said yesterday that only RM450 million was left in the Consolidated Revenue Account meant to repay RM35.4 billion in tax refunds.

About RM19.25 billion is owed in the form of goods and services tax refunds, while RM16.05 billion is in the form of overpaid income and property gains tax.

A total of RM148.6 million is in the Tax Refund Trust Account.

“(Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak) is dishonest for accusing the Pakatan Harapan government of misusing RM42.2 billion (as of Dec 31 last year) when he left us with only RM450 million (as of) April 30 this year,” Lim said in a statement.

He added that while Najib has repeatedly spoken of the Consolidated Fund of RM42.2 billion, he failed to mention that out of this amount, only RM11.86 billion was in the Consolidated Revenue Account at that point. However, as of April 30, this amount depleted to RM450 million.

“This shows the Consolidated Revenue Account has deteriorated substantially in just over four months. Najib should explain this drastic drop in the Consolidated Revenue Account from Dec 31, 2017 to April 30 this year.”

All collections by the federal government enter a common pool known as the Consolidated Account, that includes three different accounts maintained by the accountant-general – the Consolidated Revenue Account, Consolidated Loan Account and Consolidated Trust Account. Only the funds from the Consolidated Revenue Account can be channeled to the Tax Refund Trust Account.

When Pakatan Harapan came into power, the amount in the unaudited Consolidated Account was RM35.5 billion.

The government increased the unaudited Consolidated Account amount to RM59.9 billion as of July 31, of which RM3.81 billion was sent to the unaudited Consolidated Revenue Account.