KUALA LUMPUR: The police must initiate follow up actions after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) absolved the Barisan Nasional (BN) government from accusations of stealing money meant for Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund.
Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin (pix) said this should be the case particularly as he had lodged a report previously, immediately after Finance Minister made the allegation in the Dewan Rakyat in August.
The Rembau MP said the police should at least issue a clarification on the matter.
“Yes, the police must (follow up). I have given my statement to them previously, and now that the PAC has confirmed that the money was not stolen, they must take follow up actions.
“This is because the matter refers to an alleged crime, and BN was accused of robbery. Since there is no crime, the police must at least issue a statement on this,” he told a press conference in Parliament, here, today.
Khairy, who was former Youth and Sports Minister, had on Aug 9, 2018 lodged a report over Lim’s claim that the previous administration had misappropriated funds meant for GST refund claims amounting to over RM19 billion.
Lim had said that the funds, which were supposed to be deposited into the GST Trust Fund, was instead transferred directly into the Consolidated Fund Account.
However, the PAC today confirmed that the no money meant for GST refund was stolen or had gone missing, that the funds were instead used to fund management and development expenses, and that the shortfall was a result of a projection error.
Its chairman Datuk Noraini Ahmad however acknowledged that there had been a violation of the GST Act 2014 as the fund was not transferred to the GST refund account.
The report was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat, while a statement was also made available to the media.
