Lim Guan Eng – Bernama file photo
PUTRAJAYA: Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak should explain why the consolidated revenue account had dropped by 96 per cent or RM11.41 billion between Dec 31, 2017 and April 30, 2018, says Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
In a statement, Lim said Najib left the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government only RM450 million on April 30, 2018.
“The total of RM11.86 billion in the consolidated account as at Dec 31, 2017 had dropped to RM450 million as at April 30 due to overspending in the four-month period from January 2018 to April 2018. Clearly, this was ‘general election expenses’ to help Barisan Nasional (BN) win the 14th General Election,” he said.
Lim noted that government regulations permit only the consolidated account to be used for management expenditure.
“Imagine only RM450 million was available for paying emoluments and pensions, when in fact the government needs over RM8 billion a month for this expenditure alone,” he said.
Lim also questioned why Najib was at a loss to understand what constitutes a consolidated revenue account despite having held the post of Finance Minister for 10 years.
Lim said Najib should not lie about the actual fiscal position by saying that BN had left the new PH administration tens of billions of ringgit when in reality only RM450 million was left.
“Datuk Seri Najib, without any real checks, questioned the validity of the unaudited financial statement for April 2018 and indirectly accused me of manipulating the figures. As the former Finance Minister, he should know that the Federal Government’s monthly financial statement is prepared separately by the Accountant General’s Department,” he explained.
Lim added that Najib should not question the credibility of the monthly financial statements and should realise that the new Finance Minister had not yet been sworn into office when the unaudited monthly statement for April 2018 was prepared. – Bernama