“The date of (the presentation) of Budget 2023 has been announced, which is on Oct 28, according to the Dewan Rakyat calendar which is public knowledge,” he said.

“I don’t have any information (on the presentation being brought forward to next month). So far, it remains (on Oct 28),” he told reporters after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Futurise Sdn Bhd and Iskandar Investment Bhd Ventures (IIBV) to develop drone sports at Medini Iskandar Malaysia here.

Futurise was represented by its chief executive officer Rosihan Zain Baharudin while IIBV by its managing director Zulfiqar Zainuddin.

Shahar was commenting on a report by a news portal that finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz might be presenting Budget 2023 earlier to make way for the 15th general election.

Meanwhile, commenting on several consumer associations’ insistence that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) establish a special team to investigate banks in relation to the loss of savings by customers, Shahar said the financial institutions needed to be held accountable if the loss was due to the bank’s negligence.

He said that BNM was actively monitoring the issue. The matter was also raised and addressed several times in previous Dewan Rakyat sessions.

“Those who feel they have been shortchanged may report to the police or the respective banks as this is the existing procedure. The government will certainly instruct the financial institutions to check if they have been negligent and if so, they have to be responsible,” he said.

The media reported last Tuesday that consumer associations had urged banks to reimburse customers due to weaknesses in their security systems.