Zafrul reiterates Tabung Harapan funds used to service 1MDB debt
PARLIAMENT | Perikatan Nasional (PN) Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has reiterated that Tabung Harapan funds collected by the previous Pakatan Harapan government were used to service 1MDB debts.
Separately, he said that the government's total debt and liabilities currently stood at RM1.26 trillion...
PARLIAMENT | Perikatan Nasional (PN) Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has reiterated that Tabung Harapan funds collected by the previous Pakatan Harapan government were used to service 1MDB debts.
Separately, he said that the government's total debt and liabilities currently stood at RM1.26 trillion.
The status of the Tabung Harapan funds has been constant fodder for PN lawmakers and supporters, even though the previous administration had declared last November that all RM205.49 million had been used to service 1MDB's debts for 2019.
"Where did the Tabung Harapan money go?" Noh Omar (BN-Tanjung Karang asked in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Tengku Zafrul, who was wrapping up his portion of the royal debate, responded: "Tabung Harapan funds have been used to pay 1MDB debt".
Tabung Harapan was set up by Harapan in May 2018 to allow the public to contribute to efforts to reduce the federal government's debts, which then finance minister Lim Guan Eng had placed at over RM1 trillion.
Lim had justified this by saying that the RM1 trillion consisted of both actual debt and government liabilities.
PN lawmakers such as Noh, had questioned Tengku Zafrul (above) on whether this estimate was actually true.
Tony Pua (Harapan-Damansara) then asked for the finance minister to state the current debt and liabilities.
Tengku Zafrul said as per the first quarter of the year, the actual debt was around RM823.8 billion, while government guarantees were about RM166.9 billion. The total debt, including liabilities, was at RM1.26 trillion.
However, he assured that the government was not going bankrupt and is still able to service its debt.
