He said nowhere in the statement had Customs director-general T Subromaniam linked the RM19.4 billion to Pakatan Harapan (PH) using the people’s money, as alleged by Najib.
“I would like to ask our ex-prime minister whether, by reading Subromaniam’s statement, Customs said PH took the refund money,” he said at a press conference here.
“Is he living in a bubble that he cannot understand simple statements like that, twisting it to claim his innocence?”
Subromaniam had said last week that the government only approved RM63.5 billion to be placed in a trust fund, compared to the RM82.9 billion requested by Customs.
“As of May 31, the trust fund still needed and faced a shortage to pay the arrears of RM19.4 billion in refunds,” he said.
Najib later accused PH of spending the money in the trust fund which was meant for GST refunds for businesses.
He said the money was supposed to be channelled to a trust account for the refunds, but the PH government had spent it after losing revenue from scrapping the GST three months before implementing the sales and services tax (SST).
This came after Lim, during the winding-up debate at the Dewan Rakyat on the SST last week, claimed that the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration had stolen the GST refund money.
Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin has since lodged reports with the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, calling for an investigation into the allegation.
Former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah also lodged a report with the MACC, saying the allegation was unfounded.
Najib: After spending GST refund money, PH now seeking scapegoat