Former Treasury sec-gen Irwan lodges MACC report

(The Star) – Former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah has lodged a report with anti-graft authorities on the “missing GST funds” allegations.

He said he made the report so that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) could investigate the matter, which he claimed was “baseless”.

“He (Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng) claims the money is missing. It is not. It was put into the consolidated funds.

“I made the report because I want the truth,” he said when met by reporters before leaving the MACC headquarters here on Friday.

Irwan had arrived at the headquarters at around 9.40am, driving a black Chevrolet.

He has flatly dismissed allegations that RM18bil is “missing” from the collection of GST, and instead claimed that all monies collected go into the Federal Government’s consolidated funds account.

Irwan said that the Customs Department requirements for GST refunds are channelled to a trust account every month.

On Tuesday (Aug 7), Lim had claimed that the previous administration had “robbed” and “misappropriated” the input tax credit under the GST.

He alleged that money meant for the Government’s trust fund account had gone into the consolidated fund and was considered as revenue.

Lim said he would propose to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that an open inquiry be held to clear the air over the allegedly missing RM18bil.

“There are documents and paper trails to show this,” said Lim while wrapping up the debates on the Customs (Amendments) Bill 2018 in Parliament on Thursday (Aug 9).