Najib listed down the amount of revenue the government had received between January and August this year, which amounted to RM145.6 billion.
“Our finance minister is a funny man. He speaks as though the government has not been getting any revenue since May 9. Hence, I would like to share with you the revenue that the government has been receiving.
“These figures are listed in the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and finance ministry websites,” he said in a Facebook post today.
Najib’s posting was in response to Lim’s statement that the current government is still able to meet all its monthly financial commitments, including the RM8 billion in monthly salaries and pensions of civil servants, despite being left with only RM450 million by the previous administration.
The former prime minister pointed out that the government received tax revenues each month, such as in the form of the now-abolished goods and services tax (GST) or its replacement, the sales and services tax (SST).
Najib said payslips of taxpayers would also contain monthly tax deductions being done, which go to the government.
“Between May and August, the government should have received about RM74 billion in revenue. In May alone, the revenue was RM20.8 billion.
“From January to April, the government received RM72 billion, which is about RM2 billion less than what the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government received in the first four months of taking over Putrajaya.
“How challenging is Guan Eng’s job, I am not so sure. Or did the money go ‘missing’?”
The Pekan MP said if the money had indeed gone missing, then it was only right for Lim to be investigated.
“Where did the money go? I think the rakyat deserves to know.”
However, Najib said he would agree that Lim’s work had become more challenging since Sept 1 when the SST was introduced to replace the GST.
“The rakyat did not feel any benefits (from the change) and the government lost tens of billions of ringgit in revenue. It was also not able to continue with many initiatives or programmes.
“To Guan Eng, I wish to say, enough with putting on an act and telling lies.”
Lim was reported to have said that it had not been an easy five months since the May 9 general election, when Pakatan Harapan took over the government from Barisan Nasional.
“The Consolidated Revenue Account has dropped drastically from RM11.86 billion in December 2017 to RM5.73 billion in January 2018, RM5.34 billion in February 2018, RM3.91 billion in March 2018 and only RM450 million in April 2018,” he said.
“Clearly, this excessive spending by the previous BN government, amounting to billions of ringgit monthly, were carried out in the months preceding the 14th general election.”
Accountant-General Saat Mat Esa had previously confirmed that there was only RM450 million left to spend when BN handed power to PH on May 9.