THE total shortfall in unpaid good and services tax (GST) refunds (input tax) is actually RM19.248 billion, and not RM17.911 billion as reported to Parliament last week.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said a mistake by a ministry officer, who was off by a decimal point meant that the true amount left in the GST trust fund is only RM148.6 million and not RM1.486 billion. 

The GST refund was for the period of 2015 and up to May 31 this year.

Of the RM19.4 billion, RM9.2 billion was for refunds for 2018, RM6.8 billion (2017), RM2.8 billion (2016) and RM0.6 billion (2015). 

“I wish to apologise to the house and speaker.

“It is better that we are transparent and honest with the house than to hide such things, as has been done by the previous government,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Lim maintained that the problem of unpaid tax was due to the weak cash flow of the previous administration, brought about by poor fiscal discipline and a large increase in debts.

“What the previous government had done was to falsify accounts and abuse the fund to make payments for other purposes, or to cover the deficit to show a surplus. That remains the truth.”

Last week, Lim clashed with opposition lawmakers when he alleged that the GST input tax had gone “missing” and accused Barisan Nasional of “stealing” it.

Lim said his ministry would carry out an internal probe to determine what happened to the money meant to repay businesses under the GST and that cabinet members in the ministry may be the subject of an open investigation in the future. 

Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) lodged a police report while former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over Lim’s claims. – August 13, 2018.