He said the money was supposed to be channelled to a trust account to make the refunds but the PH government spent it after it lost revenue by zero-rating the GST for three months before implementing its proposed sales and services tax (SST).
“When PH zero-rated the GST on June 1, businessmen could claim all their GST input tax immediately and this caused a rush by claimants, whether they had made sales or otherwise.
“Since the PH government lost the revenue for three months, perhaps it had already spent money from the Consolidated Fund supposed to be channelled to the GST trust account.
“This was done to support the government’s monthly expenditure. The result is that PH is experiencing difficulty paying the large amounts of GST claims, all at once, and it thus needs a scapegoat to bear the blame,” he said in a statement.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, when winding up the debate on the Sales Tax Bill 2018 in the Dewan Rakyat, had alleged that the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration “robbed” the GST refund money meant to be returned to businesses within two weeks of them submitting their claims.
Lim said about RM18 billion was “missing” from the refund account.
Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin has lodged reports with the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) calling for investigation into the allegation.
Former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, who called the allegation unfounded, also lodged a report with the MACC today.
Najib said Lim’s allegation was typical of the PH government which sought to point fingers at the BN for everything that went wrong, even though it was the PH’s fault.
“The allegation that BN ‘robbed’ the RM18 billion GST fund could be lumped together with the ‘RM1 trillion national debt’ claim used by PH as excuses for not fulfilling its manifesto promises,” he said.
Najib, who held the finance portfolio during the BN administration, said he was prepared to give his cooperation if called to provide statements in the investigation into the missing money.
“If the allegation is proven untrue, then Lim is guilty of misleading Parliament when he made such a serious accusation. When that happens, I very much hope the Dewan Rakyat Speaker won’t protect him.
“The Dewan is not the place to make unfounded allegations and politically motivated accusations,” he added.