KUALA LUMPUR – Pakatan Harapan (PH) lawmakers today lodged a counter report against Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, who filed a police report alleging that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and former finance minister Lim Guan Eng misled the Dewan Rakyat over Yayasan Albukhary’s tax-exempt status.
Ipoh Timur MP Howard Lee said the Bersatu Youth chief’s claims were illogical, and urged him to study tax law carefully, which would show that a finance minister can only consider granting a tax exemption upon an appeal.
The power to decide on an exemption otherwise lies with the Inland Revenue Board director-general, Lee said.
“Machang said Bagan (Lim Guan Eng) is ultimately responsible for revoking the tax-exempt status. But Machang needs to understand the law – the minister only has power to consider if there is an appeal. If there is no appeal, how is he to consider?
“Machang himself said that Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary appealed to (then) prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (to reverse the revocation of tax-exempt status) after Bagan was no longer the finance minister.
“So how could Lim, if he was not a minister, consider an appeal, if no appeal was ever made to him?” Lee told a press conference outside the Dang Wangi district police headquarters where he lodged the report against Wan Fayhsal today.
He said Wan Fayhsal’s allegations that Anwar had lied about the matter when answering in the Dewan Rakyat was false and malicious.
“By lodging a police report, he is violating the right of MPs to immunity when speaking in the Dewan Rakyat, which is a right under the federal constitution,” Lee added.
With Lee was Kampar MP Chong Zemin, who said that if Wan Fayhsal found Anwar’s explanation confusing, he could have, under Parliament’s standing orders, submitted a motion to have Anwar referred to the House’s rights and privileges committee.
“But instead, he brought the matter to police and has insulted parliamentary proceedings. Machang should go back to the constitution on the separation of powers and not have police interfere with the legislature,” Chong said.
Other PH MPs present were Young Syefura Othman (Bentong), Syerleena Abdul Rashid (Bukit Bendera) and Mohd Sany Hamzan (Hulu Langat).
Wan Fayhsal had lodged a police report on March 23 after Anwar confirmed to the Dewan Rakyat on March 21 that Lim did not revoke the tax exemption for Yayasan Albukhary during Lim’s tenure as finance minister.
Anwar dismissed accusations levelled against Lim on the matter, noting that Section 44(6) of the Income Tax Act 1967 does not afford powers to a minister over tax exemption matters, stating that the tax exemption for the foundation was only approved on February 25, 2021.
Lim has also slammed Wan Fayhsal’s police report, saying he never saw any file on Yayasan Albukhary when he was finance minister and “was in no position to decide on any appeal since none was made by the foundation to me”.
The claim that Lim revoked the foundation’s tax-exempt status was first raised by Muhyiddin after the former prime minister was charged with corruption recently.
Lim has lodged a police report against Muhyiddin and is also suing him, stating that the accusations were an attempt to shift attention away from the Pagoh MP’s recent corruption charges. – The Vibes, March 27, 2023
