Guan Eng shows proof Kelantan sought loan for civil servant salaries

KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today produced documents of evidence that Kelantan had in fact sought federal assistance to pay salaries of its civil servants.
Speaking during a press conference, Lim handed out copies of a letter by the state government dated June 18, 2018 seeking for advanced payment of RM97 million to cover its cash flow for the year, RM24.5 million of which was meant for wages.
"This is a fact, and today I'm producing this evidence that there was an application by Kelantan to ask for advanced payment to pay off their civil servants' salaries.
"They sought for RM24.5 million (for the wages alone), and we have approved RM22.5 million. In fact, they have already received the sum," he told a press conference in Parliament, here, today.
Lim's statement came after several Kelantan PAS leaders expressed dissatisfaction over Lim's previous statement that the Kelantan government had insufficient funds for wages, demanding that Lim provide proof for his comments.
He had also previously added Kelantan was the state with the largest debt with RM388 million in advance financial assistance still owed to the federal government as of December last year.
On why only RM22.5 million was approved, Lim said the priority was to make payments to the civil servants, and that the federal government wanted to see how the funds were utilised.
The Bagan MP added that Kelantan had also recently applied for additional funds after the RM22.5 million was approved, but declined to disclose details.
Commenting further on the matter, Asked if an audit would be conducted on Kelantan over its finances, Lim said: "I think we should let the state government explain to the people themselves (about their poor finances).
"The question is how is it they were unable to meet their expenditure. They must work it out. We can give an assurance, but it appears to be a recurring problem," he said.
Lim added he was puzzled why Kelantan refused to admit publicly that they had sought for assistance from the federal government, and questioned if he was a soft target for PAS leaders to mock and criticise.