Ex-PM shoots down claim of unrecorded RM620b expenditure during MCO

Former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has shot down an allegation that there was an unrecorded RM620 billion in expenditure by the Treasury Department during the movement control order (MCO) and emergency enforced to control the spread of Covid-19.

Taking to Facebook last night, the Umno vice-president said all relevant government expenditure has been recorded in the government's financial statements.

"In relation to the comment that the stimulus package was not recorded in the government's accounts from 2020-2022, I would like to emphasise that this claim is not true, and all relevant government expenditures have been recorded in the financial statements.

"The total value of the eight stimulus packages is RM530 billion - most of which did not involve government spending (such as banks' loan moratoriums)," Ismail Sabri wrote.

According to him further, the government's direct expenditure was only RM110 billion, and the allocation had already been unanimously approved by the Parliament.

Ismail Sabri was responding to a post by netizen Yusoff Bachek, who claimed that RM620 billion was unaccounted for by the Treasury from 2020 to 2022 during the MCO and emergency, and this was the reason why former premier Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri himself, did not want others to become the prime minister.

Meanwhile, the netizen who posted the message has since apologised to both Ismail Sabri and Muhyiddin for making the unfounded claims.

This after another Twitter user asked whether he was willing to face a lawsuit, following Ismail Sabri's denial.

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