Look into alleged illicit money outflow

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KUCHING: The government has been urged to look into a recent report which stated that the country had lost RM150 billion in illicit money outflow in 2009.

Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen said yesterday that the report, released by Washington-based financial watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI), claimed that from 2000 to 2008, Malaysia lost a total of US$291 billion (RM931 billion) in illicit capital outflow.

“This is a serious matter. Other countries in South East Asia are no way close to Malaysia,” said Chong at a press conference here yesterday.

The report placed Malaysia at No. 5 among developing countries with massive outflow of illicit capital from 2000 to 2009.

China ranked first with total outflows of US$2,500 billion, followed by Mexico (US$453 billion), Russia (US$427 billion) and Saudi Arabia (US$366 billion).

Chong, who is also Kota Sentosa assemblyman and state DAP secretary, also called on the government to find ways to reduce the national debt, which had showed an increasing trend over the years.

“The latest report obtained from Bank Negara stated that the government’s debt as at the third quarter this year was RM440 billion.”

Chong claimed that the increase in national debt could be closely related to the transformation programmes advocated by the prime minister.