THE raids on the offices of Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s sons were not politically motivated, said the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) chief executive officer today.

Sabin Samitah said IRB had never announced that the former prime minister’s sons were under investigation, and that the raids were conducted based on a risk analysis by the board.

“No, there is no political interference, because how am I going to justify it if my officers simply raid a company if there are no tax issues?

“Raids are conducted based on need. Any investigation or action in an investigation against any individual or company is based on the risk analysis that we have already done. Otherwise, they can take us to court,” he told reporters at the IRB headquarters in Cyberjaya today.

He said it was an international practice for audit firms and revenue boards to conduct thorough investigations, and there was no such thing as targeting certain people to be probed.

“There is no specific operation for politicians… it is not like that.

“If they have tax issues, they will be investigated, regardless of whether they are politicians. There have been politicians investigated in our audits.”

He said IRB would conduct audit operations on professionals next month or in October.

“From time to time, we investigate those who don’t declare the right amount of tax. We don’t care if they are politicians or not.”

Earlier this month, the offices of Mokhzani, Mirzan and Mukhriz were raided, leading opposition members to question why the families of other former prime ministers and Cabinet ministers were not similarly investigated.

“It doesn’t matter whether the politician is in the (ruling) government or opposition. We will investigate (if there is basis to do so),” said Sabin. – August 29, 2017.