PAC: GST refund money not missing
KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has confirmed that no goods and services tax (GST) refund money has gone missing.
The PAC however found that the transfer of the funds into a consolidated revenue account instead of the GST refund account violated the Goods and Services Tax Act 2014.
Committee chairman Datuk Noraini Ahmad said that the shortfall was due to a projection error, ahead of the parliamentary tabling of the investigation report.
“There was no loss of funds from GST revenue collections. The revenue was not transferred to the GST refund pool but was used to fund management and development expenses.
“The government previously overestimated the net GST collections by 65%,” Noraini said.
In July last year, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng alleged in Parliament that the Barisan Nasional administration “robbed” the country of an estimated RM19 billion meant for GST refunds.
This prompted Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar (Rembau-BN) threatening to refer Lim to the rights and privileges committee if the PAC probe found otherwise.
The report on “missing” GST refunds will be tabled later today, ahead by a day than the original schedule.
By: K Pragalath
