'Useless speaker', KJ quips after Ariff finds Guan Eng didn't mislead
Opposition lawmakers have voiced their disappointment with Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof ruling that Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng did not mislead the House by claiming that money intended for GST refunds had been "robbed."
Among them was Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin, who described Ariff as "useless...
Opposition lawmakers have voiced their disappointment with Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof ruling that Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng did not mislead the House by claiming that money intended for GST refunds had been "robbed."
Among them was Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin, who described Ariff as "useless."
"I don’t know how he managed to become a judge. Useless," he quipped at a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.
Following an hour-long debate in the Dewan Rakyat on the motion to refer Lim to the Rights and Privileges Committee, opposition MPs staged a walkout in protest against the speaker's ruling.
KiniGuide: A primer on the 'not missing' GST refunds
The motion was moved by opposition leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who accused Lim of misleading the House by claiming that RM19.4 billion intended for GST refunds had been “robbed.”
This followed the Public Accounts Committee stating on Monday that the money was unlawfully diverted, but not lost.
Ariff, however, rejected Ismail’s motion.
In the press conference, Ismail (above) claimed that Ariff appears to be defending Lim and thereby standing by the finance minister’s claim that the GST refund money had been “robbed” by the previous BN administration.
On the contrary, the PAC report tabled on Monday supposedly shows that the RM19.4 billion said to be missing is in the government’s consolidated account.
“Because of tensions (in the parliament chambers) just now, we tried to compromise by foregoing the Rights and Privileges Committee on condition that the Bagan member apologises and retracts his accusation, but this too failed to materialise.
“The speaker did not order Bagan to retract, but he was instead firm in his decision to reject the opposition’s motion. I see double standards in his decision,” he said.
Meanwhile, Khairy claimed that Lim had lied in the House by claiming the RM19.4 billion sum were good to pay.
“In the auditor-general’s findings, only RM6 billion had been approved as of April this year out of the RM19 billion. So, if there is only RM6 billion up to April, imagine what it’s like last year?
“I’m made to understand that only RM1 billion in claims had been approved.
“So why keep the money in the GST account? It would be better for the money to be used for other development and administrative work. That’s cash-flow management, and the law allows the finance minister to transfer money from the GST fund to the consolidated account. That is not a crime.
“In my debates with the finance minister, he said the RM19.4 billion had been approved. He said ‘yes, it’s approved’. But in the PAC report, clearly, it’s not,” he said.
After the press conference, the opposition MPs returned to parliament chambers for debates.
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