I refer to the media statement dated 10 Ogos by Dato Sri Subromaniam Tholasy, the Director General of Customs on the issue of GST refunds and its Trust Fund.
The statement confirmed that monies belonging to the people and businesses had indeed been stolen and misused, as exposed by the Finance Minister in Parliament last week.
According to the Goods and Services Tax Act 2014, all monies collected from GST must be transferred to the government’s Consolidated Fund. Every month, monies required for GST tax refunds must be transferred to the Trust Fund so that the Customs can make the payments.
The refusal oleh former Treasury Secretary General, Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar, to approve the transfer to the Trust Fund as requested by the Customs has caused lateness or failure in refunding RM19.4 billion to businesses. This can be supported by my own experience where many businesses have raised complaint to me, and some have been waiting for more than two years.
This issue is very serious and is a breach of trust by the former government, because the refund monies do not belong to the government. They are held temporarily by the government in trust and must be returned to the rightful businesses.
Failure to refund the input tax has cause losses to businesses, in the form of “cost of capital” because their cashflows are affected. A lot of businesses had to raise prices because of this, and some had to totally shut down. At the same time, the former government has cheated the people and benefited from “free financing” because the RM19.4 billion is capital which required no interest.
Last week, Members of Parliament from Barisan Nasional vigorously defended the GST tax system because it was deemed to be more efficient. However, this incident shows that no matter how efficient a taxation system is, it will still be misused to cheat the people if the leaders are not honest and trustworthy.
The statement by the Finance Minister and Customs showed the seriousness of the matter. Former Treasury Secretary General, Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar, must stop acting dumb and come forward to explain why he did not approve the refunds requested by the Customs. In particular, he must state whether or that the refusal or deliberate delay in GST refunds was an instruction from the former Finance Minister and Prime Minister.
I also urge the police, MACC, and Attorney General’s Chambers to conduct immediate investigation and take action against those responsible.
In addition, I urge the Finance Ministry to find swift solution to this problem, before the SST is introduced. The businesses and people have been robbed and cheated for a long time, and therefore they should no longer be made victims.