The Malaysian Insight

PLEASE wait until we have the money, that’s Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s message to those seeking refunds after being squeezed by the Najib administration.

The overpaid taxes, including by those close to Dr Mahathir, were put in a consolidated fund and “they were spending the money, the money had disappeared”, the prime minister told The Malaysian Insight. 

As a result, the Pakatan Harapan government is now saddled with unpaid refunds for the goods and services tax (GST) and income tax, he said.

“We will pay back the money due to the people but only when we have the money.”

Last week, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the government owed some RM16 billion in refunds to taxpayers.

The refunds, dating as far back as six years, were owed to companies (RM12.41 billion) and individuals (RM3.62 billion).

Lim said the Najib administration also did not pay RM18 billion in input tax, due to be refunded to businesses under the GST system, accusing the previous government of having had “stolen” the money.

“If we pay all of them the money, then we don’t have money at all,” Dr Mahathir told The Malaysian Insight.

He went on to explain the former government’s modus operandi of shackling those who supported him and Pakatan Harapan.

“You don’t understand the enormity of Najib’s (former prime minister Najib Razak) operation. During his time, what he did was to frighten anybody from financing the opposition.

“If you are seen to be close to me, you will be visited by the income tax department and by the tax people and they made ridiculous demands. 

“Even though you have showed evidence that you have paid in full, they said no you haven’t paid.”

The people were then threatened with legal action and having their bank accounts frozen, he said.

“So many people had their bank accounts frozen. They couldn’t do any business.”

The prime minister cited the example of Country Heights Holdings Bhd executive chairman and major shareholder Lee Kim Yew, who is known to be a close associate.

“The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) charged one person RM90 million with no evidence.

“You know he (Lee) had paid all these taxes but they said he had to personally pay as well.

“They said, ‘you must pay and if you don’t, then we will freeze your accounts’. So, his work and all that had to be stopped and that is how he (Najib) tortures people.”

In August 2017, Lee settled his tax liabilities of RM22.7 million, including penalties, claimed by the IRB against Country Heights Sdn Bhd (CHSB), a wholly owned subsidiary of the property group.

Earlier, his fixed deposits of some RM126 million placed in a foreign-owned bank were seized by the IRB. The tax liabilities were accrued from the assessment years of 1997 and 1998 during the Asian financial crisis. – August 27, 2018.