INCUMBENT Sabah Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal has threatened to take Petronas to court if the national oil firm does not pay Sabah what it owes in sales tax (SST) like it did Sarawak, the Daily Express reported today.

Shafie made the threat after Petronas on Thursday paid Sabah’s neighbour RM2.9 billion in last year’s SST arrears.

“If the Sarawak state government can be paid, we should also be paid equally, because what has been embedded in the rights of Sarawak is also embedded in the rights of Sabah,” Shafie was quoted as saying in the report today.

Shafie, who was speaking on the campaign trail in Putatan, said he would take Petronas to court if it did not accord Sabah the same treatment as Sarawak for oil and gas extracted in the state.

Sabah, following in the footsteps of Sarawak, imposed a 5% SST in April. 

Petronas made full payment to Sarawak for the SST on the advice of the prime minister, thus settling a suit the state had brought against the oil company over owed taxes.

Petronas chairman Ahmad Nizam Salleh handed over the cheque to Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg in Wisma Bapa Malaysia, in Kuching, on Thursday.

Abang Johari in his address said the payment was the result of a settlement reached between Petronas, the federal government and the state government.

Under the terms of the settlement, Petronas withdrew its application for a judicial review of a Kuching high court decision that Sabah and Sarawak have the right to impose SST on petroleum products.

Abang Johari said the withdrawal signalled Petronas’ recognition of Sarawak’s constitutional power to impose the tax under the Sarawak State Sales Tax Ordinance 1998.

Sarawak last year collected an estimated RM3.09 billion in SST on petroleum products, a large chunk of which would be invested in rural development, Abang Johari said. – September 19, 2020.