Mahathir: IRB will go after all, not just Najib and ex-ministers

PARLIAMENT | The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) will not discriminate when it goes after ministers with tax arrears.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that “not only past ministers, but also present ones who have not paid their arrears” will be pursued.

He said this to reporters in the parliament lobby when asked if more action would follow after it was reported that former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was slapped with a tax bill of RM1.5 billion for the period of 2011 to 2017.

“But we also found that during Najib’s time, huge taxes were imposed on certain people which were backdated for 10 years. That, of course, is not legal.

“You can’t develop a new way of computing tax, and then backdate it, and (charge) those who already paid their tax according to the former interpretation of the law,” he said.

In 2017, Mahathir claimed there were individuals and business people who were unfairly targeted by the IRB and then government.

Criticising a tax probe on businessperson Lee Kim Yew as “daylight robbery”, Mahathir had alleged that individuals were told they would be blacklisted and have their passports impounded if they failed to pay their taxes. - Mkini