PUTRAJAYA: Former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah today lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the alleged disappearance of RM18 billion in Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds.
He said the report was lodged so that the graft buster could investigate the matter, which he had described as unfounded.
“It is baseless. I want the details because he (Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng) said it’s missing, it’s not missing but credited into a consolidated fund.
“I lodged report with the MACC as I want the truth (to prevail),” he told reporters before leaving the MACC headquarters.
Irwan, who was driving a black Chevrolet car, arrived at the MACC headquarters about 9.40am and said he would even lodge a police report on the same matter today.
Lim had recently alleged that the Barisan Nasional government did not follow the GST guidelines and had stolen monies from a trust account from where the tax deduction was supposed to be refunded to businesses.
During a press conference on Thursday, Irwan had said the Customs Department had made refund payments worth RM23 billion which was over 34 per cent from the GST collection in 2017.
“Outstanding payment is learned to be at RM15 billion for 2017 that will require verification, investigations and auditing processes,” Irwan added.
He said if the claim for GST refund was made clearly, without any fraud, the Customs Department would make the refund payment within 14 days.
“Otherwise, if there is suspected elements of fraud in input tax claims cases, it will take a longer time to conduct investigations and further auditing,” he said.
All of such information, Irwan said, could be retrieved from the Accountant General’s Department and the Finance Ministry's Fiscal Division.